The Great Southern Star - October 19, 2010 by The Great Southern Star

Celebrating 120 Years

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2010

$1.20

Saintly Sunday CATHOLICS from across South Gippsland celebrated the canonisation of Mary MacKillop on Sunday. A delegation from Mary MacKillop College

I N S I D E

in Leongatha – named in honour of the saint – was in the Italian capital of Rome to witness the historic occasion, together with a tour group of Catholics from throughout the Sale Diocese, organised by Jetset Leongatha.

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Fish chase

The college community gathered for Mass and a telecast of the event on Sunday, after staging an expo of activities. Students later released balloons with messages of inspiration – quotes from Mary herself.

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Election challenge

With the balloons are Mary MacKillop students Bailey and Darcy Wearne, and Kate Hyde, with sister Jessica Hyde, of St Joseph’s Primary School, Wonthaggi. Read more on page four.

From Page 15

Spring fashion

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Creativity lures admirers TEENAGE talents were showcased in a cultural spectacular at Leongatha Secondary College on Friday night. The school held its Senior School Art Show and Performance Evening, featuring media, graphic design, photography, art and drama. The opening number of the evening was a highlight, showing Michael Jackson’s Thriller piece. Held every semester, the Performance Evening is a collection of work by students

Smooth sounds: Stephen Loftus set the mood.

from Years 7, 10, 11 and 12, and hosted by drama teacher Michelle Dal Masetto. Dancers involved in this year’s State Schools Spectacular and soloist Josh Gardener performed their numbers from that massive concert held in Melbourne. Year 11 theatre students performed a section from the famous Brecht play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. The play is an allegorical tale of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany and looks at how power can corrupt.

Colour galore: Meg Sullivan with her piece Dancing, a stencilled painting.

Show in full bloom HUNDREDS of gardening enthusiasts walked away with as many plants as they could from the 22nd annual Native Plant Show at the Leongatha Recreation Reserve on the weekend. Held by the South Gippsland Group of the Australian Plants Society, the event featured plant sales, artwork with an Australian theme and book sales by the South Gippsland Conservation Society. More than 650 people attended the two-day show, observing 238 specimens on display and 100 for sale. Show co-ordinator Coral Hughes was glad the wet weather did not deter visitors. “The show is about showing off Australian plants. Some people like the indigenous stuff and others like the pretty flowers,” she said. Among the artists to exhibit works depicting landscapes, animals and flowers were photographer John Banikos, painter Marion Up close: Charlee Eabes of Leongatha admires the magnifiChapman, and sculptors Rachel Warren and cent floral display by Ian and Gaye Cornthwaite, and Tilia Helen Bristol. Lohmus of Strzelecki Plant Farm, Allambee.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 3

Doctor poach attempt By Chris Brown SOUTH Gippsland doctors are being targeted with $500,000 inducements to move to city locations.

A Sydney-based group called Medical Support Services Pty Ltd sent letters to at least a dozen doctors in Wonthaggi. Practice managers have labelled the act inappropriate. But it seems doctors in Leongatha and Korumburra did not receive the letter. The letter is written by a GP liaison named Robert Wheat who says there are a number of positions available in city locations around Australia. “While I appreciate you may be currently practicing in a country or outer metropolitan area, you may wish to consider the beneﬁts to you and your family from relocating to a more populous regional or capital city location,” he wrote.

He said the main benefits were: “a significant capital payment up to $500,000…made to you on commencement,” a higher income, superb facility and clinical independence. “I was hoping to find a convenient time where I may be able to either meet with you or discuss over the phone the benefits on offer to you by relocating to a city location,” Mr Wheat wrote. “The centres I talk of generally provide a fully equipped three or four bed treatment room with full time nurses, full on site radiology, pharmacy, physiotherapy, dental suite, numerous visiting specialists and extensive off street parking.” Mr Wheat did not return a phone call from The Star. Wonthaggi’s South Gippsland Family Medicine practice manager Wendy Notley said she did not think it was appropriate for another clinic to try and recruit doctors through letters sent to the clinic. “I think if anything they should be sending

to the doctor’s personal addresses rather than the clinic they work at,” she said. General Practice Association of South Gippsland CEO Rhett McLennan said sending such letters was uncommon. ‘There are appropriate pathways to go through in regards to what you should and shouldn’t do,” he said. “If those letters came to the division we wouldn’t disseminate them.” Mr McLennan said there were medical recruitment agencies available for practices seeking doctors. Leongatha Healthcare Services practice manager Judy Robb said she was not aware of any doctors at her clinic receiving the letter. Korumburra Medical Centre manager Nadine Smith said she had not heard of any doctors receiving the letters either. “We have more trouble in getting doctors to come to the country rather than having them

poached,” she said. The Star undertook an investigation to discover information about the organisation behind the letter. Internet searches revealed that Medical Support Services is a private Australian company that has had an ABN since April 2001. A further search showed that Mr Wheat was on a newsletter from a sharemarket listed company called Primary Health Care Ltd. Its website says it is “a service provider to a wide range of health care professionals who provide comprehensive care to patients”. The company also operates day surgeries, eye clinics and pathology laboratories. Mr Wheat was also listed as the GP Liaison for medical graduates on a position description for the Charleston Medical and Dental Centre in the suburbs of Newcastle. This centre is managed by Primary Health Care.

Desal’s “yuck” factor By Jane Ross WONTHAGGI’S desalination plant is near a sewage outfall pipe.

The pipe pumps an average three megalitres or three million litres of efﬂuent into the sea every day. The efﬂuent is classed as “secondary” which means you wouldn’t drink it. The end of the pipe – which runs about 100m into the ocean – is broken. Steve Evans, managing director of South Gippsland Water which is responsible for the outfall, said wave action had damaged the pipe. It will be repaired when the tide allows. Neville Goodwin, who represents the Bass Coast on a desalination community liaison committee, said he was unaware of the proximity of the plant to the outfall. Neither was Nationals Leader Peter Ryan. “What an irony!” he declared, adding “we need to know what steps are being taken to ensure sewage-affected water isn’t going to be drawn into the desalination process”. Desalination protestor Maurice Schinkel, said Baxter’s Beach which hosts the outfall and Williamson Beach where the

plant is being built, are about 1km apart. “It is an issue. There is great potential for cross contamination, with efﬂuent being taken into the desalination plant,” he said. He said via a question to the community liaison committee, he had found out that there were no plans to upgrade the outfall. In the long term, that’s not quite the case. Mr Evans said within the next 10 years, South Gippsland Water hoped to have a “broad strategy” to stop using its Toora, Foster and Wonthaggi outfalls, but the Baxter’s Beach one would be the last to be dealt with. He said there had been no secret about the outfall and the Department of Sustainability and Environment had run a risk assessment before the desalination plant contract was awarded. “This found there was not an issue or a problem.” Efﬂuent from Inverloch and Cape Paterson treatment plants joins that from Wonthaggi before going out to sea at Baxter’s Beach. Before that occurs, the sewage settles in what he called “a natural pondage process”. Mr Schinkel said the proximity of the outfall pipe and desalination plant

raised the bigger issue of “the yuck factor” of drinking recycled sewage. Ron Anderson, president of the Bass Coast Boardriders, said members were working with the Clean Ocean Foundation to try to get outfalls shut down. “We’re quite upset about them,” he said. The foundation is launching a Bass Coast chapter of the foundation during a Clean Ocean in Motion Festival at Inverloch this Saturday. Bass Coast Mayor Cr Peter Paul, said in all the time he’d been on council (about six years) he was not aware of the outfall. “I’ve never heard any discussion about it in council. “My comment would be: I don’t know if discharging efﬂuent into the ocean in 2010 is the way to go.” Mr Goodwin said he was conﬁdent “they” would have made sure everything was tested before the desalination plant site was chosen. Reminded that “they” did not tell him the plant would be built at Wonthaggi when he was mayor of Bass Coast, Mr Goodwin replied, “Fair call.” He found out about the plant from a newspaper reporter.

Water storages full ABUNDANT rain has kept South Gippsland Water’s storages full. Korumburra’s Coalition Creek and Foster’s Deep Creek Dam are the only reservoirs that are not at capacity. And Coalition Creek is 98 per cent full, Deep Creek 99. “Storage levels are very satisfactory for this time of year,” said water authority

managing director Steve Evans. Over the past week, 77mm of rain fell in Korumburra, 76mm at Wonthaggi’s Lance Creek, 74mm over Little Bass which services Poowong, Nyora and Loch, 44mm at Deep Creek and 30mm at Fish Creek’s Battery Creek. The Tarwin, Agnes and Tarra rivers are ﬂowing well. Nevertheless, consumers are reminded that permanent water saving measures are in place.

Victim still critical THE VICTIM of a hit and run in Venus Bay remains in a critical condition at the Alfred Hospital. Ian Coe, 56, suffered serious injuries after being run over by a car several times in an attack that rocked the coastal town. Police allege the victim was mowing his lawn as 39-yearold Travis Pedley ran him over multiple times. Mr Coe suffered abdomen and leg injuries, and internal bleeding.

Preps eggcellent lessons New life: prep kids at Leongatha Primary School are preparing for eggs to hatch in their classroom. In the lead-up to the mass hatching the littlies are learning all about eggs, including cooking techniques as Zara, Jaime and William learnt.

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Imaginative teens: students Melissa Brennan and Michael Fowles admire student artwork.

Creative input: Denise Jeffries and Lorna Donohue of St Joseph’s parish, Wonthaggi, enjoy a display by St Joseph’s, Korumburra.

“Life changing”, say pilgrims By Brad Lester SOUTH Gippslanders who witnessed the canonisation of Mary MacKillop have spoken about the magic of the occasion.

Joint effort: a display by St Laurence’s Primary School and the Antiochian Orthodox Church of Mirboo North, is inspected by Mahalia Mununggurr, Clare De Silva, Brydie Bourke, Emily Dwyer and Shakira Mununggurr.

Jill Carmody of Jetset Leongatha received messages from daughters Renae Littlejohn and Jacinta Johnston, who are escorting a pilgrimage tour on their parents’ behalf. “They were saying the atmosphere was amazing. It was just a buzz of excitement. Renae said ‘Mum, this is life changing’,” Mrs Carmody said. “They were just so overwhelmed by it.” Mrs Carmody and her husband Ed, the founding principal of Mary MacKillop College in Leongatha, were to lead the tour of Catholics from the Sale Diocese, but ill health forced a change of plans. Instead, the couple attended a Mass at the college, along with parishioners from Leongatha, Korumburra, Foster and Fish Creek. Mary MacKillop College principal Michael Delaney texted the school from St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, on Sunday. He commented on “excellent viewing” and “great atmosphere”. St Joseph’s Parish Priest, Father Manny Lomagno, said the canonisation of Saint Mary MacKillop was a glorious day for all Australians, not just Catholics. “Australians recognise the spirit of Mary

Natural entertainers: senior concert band members Louis Brailsford and Maddi Carew.

MacKillop; her down to earth approach, her peaceful ways and her wisdom in dealing with the challenges she had to face,” he said. Australia’s first Catholic saint will now be known as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. The cross reference recognises Saint Mary’s observation of the cross as an important part of her spirituality and prayer. Catholic churches around Australia, including South Gippsland, held a special Mary MacKillop Mass on Sunday, featuring dedicated prayers and readings. “The readings presented the theme of the kind of woman that Mary MacKillop was and the prayers acknowledged the way she responded to the call of God in her life,” Father Lomagno said. The college named in the saint’s honour marked the occasion with an expo of student art, music, dance, science, sporting and environmental work, followed by a Mass and direct telecast of the canonisation from Rome, Italy. A piece of Saint Mary MacKillop’s coffin - and a nail from that coffin - is encased in glass and set within the altar in the college chapel. Founding college principal Ed Carmody secured the pieces during his term. Acting college co-principal Sam Wright said: “We’ve juxtaposed the day with the canonisation, which is the work of Mary MacKillop and the expo, which is the recognition of the work of our students and staff.”

Contemplative mode: Father Manny Lomagno pauses by the piece of St Mary MacKillop’s cofﬁn.

Intricate work: Mary MacKillop College students Chelsea Deenen, Meg Patterson and Camille Thompson were taken by this tapestry crafted by Linda Brown.

School grown: Bernadette Grainger buys plants grown by conservation and land management student Mariah Ferre and teacher Peter McGavin.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 5

Massive storage: people from across South Gippsland inspected Lance Creek Reservoir on Sunday, during an open day to celebrate the dam’s centenary. The reservoir supplies 50 per cent of water in South Gippsland and has a capacity of 4600ML. South Gippsland Water’s Ros Griggs welcomed Dylan and Taylah Clark of Koonwarra, together with Barry and Wendy Stevens; Peter, Jeanette and Joan Clark; Laurie and Gail O’Connell; and Jason Pincini.

Ambos not home

By Chris Brown

MIRBOO North is left without paramedics when they are sent to towns such as Welshpool, Moe and Warragul.

On two occasions within four days, paramedics were away from Mirboo North for almost two-and-a-half hours according to documents supplied to The Star. In another example, paramedics responding to an emergency in the Latrobe Valley were unable to attend a case at Boolarra. The Star understands part of the problem is ambulances are now being dispatched from a Ballarat call centre rather than in Gippsland. Until August 25, call centre staff were based in Morwell and used local knowledge about freeways and rough terrain. At the same time Ambulance Victoria strongly defended their procedures for dealing with cases. Ambulance Employees Australia Victoria general secretary Steve McGhie said the big problem with long distance dispatches was that Mirboo North was left uncovered by paramedics. “There are issues of increased risk in responding further away,” he said. “Also Mirboo North is staffed by one paramedic, plus the use of community officers, and it puts a greater demand on the use of the community officer.” Mr McGhie said he assumed Mirboo North officers were being dispatched to faraway places because the system comes up with the closest

available ambulance. “It’s one of those issues where there’s a lack of local knowledge,” he said. “Under the terms of reference they have to dispatch an ambulance in a certain time frame, so it will come up that Mirboo North is the closest ambulance and they will dispatch it whether that is logical and practical (or not).” Ambulance Victoria manager of communications and referral Danny McGennisken said communications centre staff continually monitor ambulance resources to ensure they are best placed for responding to emergencies. “From time to time our crews respond to cases that fall outside of their usual area – this is part of normal processes and practices,” he said. “We anticipate such cases arising and encourage paramedics to notify the communications centre at the time of the dispatch and during the response phase if they believe there might be a better option.” Mr McGennisken said the system provides the status and location (using GPS data) of response resources. For one period in early September Mirboo North paramedics were dispatched on long distances every day. • September 2 at 11.55am sent to Morwell leaving Mirboo North uncovered for two hours and 25 minutes; • September 2 at 4.13pm sent to Morwell again and on arrival found out they were not needed. At the same time an ambulance was required at Boolarra; • September 3 at 5.20pm sent to Warragul despite closer options available via freeway, so case was can-

celled; • September 4 at 6.25am sent to Moe, but dispatch cancelled after consultation; • September 4 at 9.01am sent to Port Welshpool and cancelled as the crew returned to Mirboo North; • September 4 at 2.02pm sent to Leongatha hospital to transfer a patient to Warragul, leaving Mirboo North uncovered for two hours and 25 minutes; and • September 5 at 4.13pm sent to Morwell and not required on arrival, but Mirboo North was left uncovered for an hour. Nationals leader and Gippsland South MP Peter Ryan said he had heard of difﬁculties with road names due to the Ballarat-based call centre. “I’ve had reports where ambulances have been sent to the wrong area because there’s a road of a similar name in a location that is not the right place,” he said. Mr Ryan said people had told him the reason for slow response times was the new dispatch system. “The auditor general has commented on that as being an element of his ﬁndings,” he said. “Departmentally it has to be acknowledged there needs to be more training. You cannot beat local knowledge.” The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority ambulance call centre in Ballarat was expanded earlier this year. The Ambulance Victoria Strategic Plan for 2010-2012 aimed to “rationalise rural communications centres” to achieve “statewide consistency in call taking and dispatching” by 2012.

’Gatha may gain ambos By Chris Brown IT’S unknown how many extra paramedics will be sent to South Gippsland if the Coalition gains government at the state election next month. The Nationals have promised they will deploy an extra 40 paramedics and six patient transport ofﬁcers in Gippsland. Under stafﬁng has

been a particular concern at the Leongatha ambulance station lately. The Nationals leader and Gippsland South MP said the placement of new ofﬁcers was an operational issue for Ambulance Victoria to decide. The Coalition would also give Wonthaggi a new MICA single responder unit. “The key thing is we now have that Auditor General’s report that is going to drive the change that is so necessary,” he

said. “That report was brought about substantially because of the many issues arising out of Gippsland.” Mr Ryan said the report was completed earlier after he told the Auditor General about all the issues that had occurred in the region. “In some parts of the state there is no doubt it is a crisis. We have had deaths in central Gippsland and Maryborough and numerous other

cases where people justiﬁably have been very angry,” he said. Mr Ryan said the growth in code one, life and death calls, had been substantial. Mr Ryan said an efﬁciently running ambulance service should be able to increase the services without raising fees. He said ambulance services were a core business of government and it provides 60 per cent of funding.

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Learners: Steve Johnson is helping San Oo accumulate driving experience. At the same time, Steve is ﬁnding out about Burmese culture. It’s a two-way program they’re both enjoying.

L2P with a mentor By Jane Ross LIKE any young man, San Oo can’t wait to get his driver’s licence. But his plan is not so much to revel in the freedom and independence, it’s to drive his family around. San is a Burmese Karen refugee. He’s in Year 10 at Wonthaggi Secondary College, having moved to the area 10 months ago. He leads a busy life. His school work is augmented by lessons in English and he’s learning to drive. Thanks to a program started by retired policeman Steve Johnson, San has a mentor to take him out once a week so that he can accumulate the 120 hours’ experience he needs before going for his

licence. Called L2P, the program has its own vehicle. It’s for young people who for one reason or another, have no family to help them gain driving experience. There are plenty of young people wanting to be part of it, but a shortage of mentor drivers. Steve is hoping more will join. There are 12, and 20 are needed. L2P was piloted in Bass Coast and has since spread across Victoria. Mentors require a full driver’s licence, preferably 10 years’ driving experience and police and working with children checks. Steve said he meets potential mentors at Wonthaggi’s Mitchell House on Tuesdays. He talks them through the program, gives them an information pack and in-

terviews them. If he doesn’t know them, he asks for a reference too. A couple of sessions of VicRoads’ training follow, including advice on how to communicate in the car during the mentoring sessions. Steve has been co-ordinator since L2P started. It began when another of his ideas lapsed for want of funding. That was a driving course for Sudanese refugees who were coming to police attention in Wonthaggi because they were driving with very little knowledge of what they were doing. Thus began a journey of cultural learning for Steve. Welcoming newcomers into our society is not just about teaching them the Australian way, he said. We can learn just as much from them.

He’s enjoying spending time with San who, despite just over 10 hours of driving experience, is progressing quickly. “Burmese are wonderful people,” mused Steve. “They haven’t a bad bone in their body.” When San has completed 20 hours of driving, he will go back to a driving instructor to work through the next stage of learning to drive before lining up for more experience. The mentoring program is funded by the Transport Accident Commission through VicRoads, with the support of Bass Coast Council, Wonthaggi Police, Mitchell House and the RACV. Anyone interested in becoming a mentor can ring Steve on 0429 188 330 or email johnsons15@ bigpond.com

Cindy’s there to help By Jane Ross THE call can come at any time of the day or night. When it does, Cindy Youle heads for the Wonthaggi Police Station. It’s her role to sit with young people who are being interviewed by police. She’s there to provide support, as well as suggest services to which the young person can be referred, if they want that. The young person’s rights are spelt out too. It’s all voluntary and Cindy is pleased to be part of it. She is hoping others will feel the same and attend an information night at the Leongatha Community House on Wednesday October 20, at 6.30pm. Cindy has four adult children of her own and said she’d like to think that if they had ever needed that kind of help and she couldn’t be there for them, there would have been someone who could. It’s not her job to stand in judgment on anyone and neither does she need to know why

the police have brought a young person in to be interviewed. Cindy is part of the Youth Referral and Independent Person Program or YRIPP. It is funded by the State Government, covers 108 police stations in Victoria and is for those aged under 18. If police need a YRIPP volunteer, they ring a central number and Cindy or one of two others in Wonthaggi, are called to see if they are available. “We don’t go if we know the young person because that would be a conﬂict of interest,” she explained. The idea is for the volunteer to be within about 30 minutes’ reach of the police station involved. She said some young people are curious about her presence, wondering why she would volunteer on their behalf. She just tells them that she’s there to support them and help them. Sometimes she is thanked, but it doesn’t matter if she isn’t. “I’m not there to gain Brownie points!” Cindy can also be present when the young person’s ﬁnger prints

There to help: Cindy Youle is a volunteer with a program that supports young people who are being interviewed by Wonthaggi Police. are taken. It’s her view that being interviewed by police would be a scary thing for a young person to go through and if her presence can assuage that, she’s happy to be helpful. She is impressed by the support that YRIPP offers, 24 hours a day. If, for example, she feels she needs to debrief following a visit to the police station, she can ring YRIPP and talk to

someone. Invariably, they will call her back later to check that she is all right. Cindy underwent training and carries with her a manual that sets out her obligations under the program. She’s careful to let the young people she helps know that, despite the paperwork she has to ﬁll in, she is not a ﬁgure of authority. Any referrals to other

services are handled by the YRIPP head ofﬁce. Acting Inspector Howard Jones of Bass Coast district police headquarters at Wonthaggi, said YRIPP supported police and had improved with a higher level of training and greater availability of volunteers. Anyone wanting to ﬁnd out more can ring 9340 3777 or email volunteer@yripp.org.au

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 7

Kids need homes By Brad Lester VULNERABLE children desperately need more foster carers in South Gippsland, with demand outstripping supply. Their safety is at risk due to such problems as drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness and domestic violence at home. There are about 40 children spread among 50 foster care households in South Gippsland and Bass Coast shires. But children are now tending to stay in care longer, meaning carers in the existing pool are not available to receive more children. Some children need long term care while others are in need of respite care. Some children come from this region, but many hail from the Latrobe Valley. While babies and sibling groups need love, carers are mostly needed for teenagers, said Peter Hall, team leader of home based care at GippsCare.

“Only 12 per cent of carers put their hand up for kids aged 12 and over across Victoria,” he said. “But there is no doubt that good stable care has been the most therapeutic factor in a child improving in their own development and mental health.” GippsCare, an arm of the Salvation Army, has 22 carers in South Gippsland after a successful recruiting campaign this year. But like many other organisations, GippsCare needs more carers for teenagers, said GippsCare senior manager, Celia Irwin. “Adolescents are young people with complex and challenging needs. A number come from backgrounds of family violence and they are very traumatised,” she said. UnitingCare Gippsland struggles to ﬁnd homes to cater for groups of siblings, to help keep what is left of a family together, said Cindy Pullar, director of family wellbeing. “Sometimes families are split between south and east Gippsland,” she said.

Agency Berry Street recently ran a campaign calling for foster carers of adolescents but received little response. In any month, the agency needs to place 10 new children, with up to 200 children in foster care in Gippsland, said home-based care team leader, Marg Proudfoot. “We are consistently contacted by the Department of Human Services (to place children),” she said. Carers are difﬁcult to ﬁnd and often couples whose children have grown and left home take on foster children to battle “empty nest syndrome”. “The carers we do have in Gippsland are of a high standard,” Ms Proudfoot said. Berry Street has four carer families in South Gippsland offering long term care and others offer respite services, caring from children from newborns through to 16-year-olds. UnitingCare Gippsland has six foster care families in South Gippsland.

Making a difference: Celia Irwin, Peter Hall and the home based care team at GippsCare: Chris Milne, Pam Chant and Alan Kent.

Ruby road issues drag on By Jane Ross THERE were tears, anger and downright dumbfoundedness.

The latter referred to action taken by South Gippsland Council that none in the community sought nor wanted. Folk who live on the Ruby-Arawata Road are very worried about its safety and are feeling disenfranchised. Nevertheless, about 20 of them came to a meeting in the Ruby Hall late on Thursday afternoon to ﬁnd out what council is planning to do to help them. Its infrastructure director Anthony Seabrook, was there to give the detail – and take the ﬂak. “We know what we want but nobody’s listening,” commented Bluey Aeschlimann before the meeting started. He and others are furious that council closed Ruby Road and ripped up some of its bitumen. But former mayor Nigel Hutchinson-Brooks who chaired Thursday’s meeting, said that was “a

done deal” and subsequent issues needed to be dealt with. There were those who saw that as an opportunity to vent their feelings about the closure of Ruby Road. “We’re here to complain about the fact our bloody road’s been closed,” cried one. “Who authorised the spending of $3000 on the gate?” demanded Margaret Robson, referring to the solid structure that now prevents trafﬁc entering or leaving Ruby Road. Mr Hutchinson-Brooks is a very experienced chairman and managed to draw the focus back to the matters at hand: safety concerns, narrowness of a bridge on the road and the state of an adjacent park. Now that all the local trafﬁc has to use RubyArawata Road, speed has become more of an issue. Milk trucks use the thoroughfare and logging trucks are expected soon. These will be carting wood from South Gippsland Water’s Western catchment. Water authority operations manager Ravi

Raveendran told The Star on Friday about 10 per cent of the 50 hectares of pine plantation at number four reservoir would be logged to create fire breaks. A timber harvesting plan is being prepared and would be lodged with council for approval. Mr Raveendran said he expected the logging would occur sometime between November and March. At Thursday’s meeting, Mr HutchinsonBrooks suggested the single lane bridge at Ruby near the South Gippsland Highway, acted as a traffic calming device, while others were worried that the increased traffic on Ruby-Arawata Road made the bridge more dangerous for pedestrians. Resident and CFA captain Darren Hardacre, asked if council could look at adding some sort of separate pedestrian device to the bridge. There was some discussion about the triangular park that sits between the highway, the former Ruby Road and Ruby-Arawata Road. It hosts a memorial tree and is used for community get togethers. Resident Jim Pickersgill, said the changes to

their lives with the closure of Ruby Road, “have affected us and we need rock solid guarantees that what is put in place is for the beneﬁt of the community”. Margaret Robson asked for the name of someone to whom the community could report unsafe trafﬁc incidents at the intersection of Ruby-Arawata Road and the South Gippsland Highway. “I have the name of someone in VicRoads,” responded Mr Hutchinson-Brooks, “I will circulate that.” He directed discussion to the section of Ruby Road bitumen that’s been pulled up. “Does the community want a grassed area or shrubbed up garden area?” asked Darren Hardacre. Mr Pickersgill said the road safety issues took priority; the park area could be dealt with later. Mr Seabrook told The Star council staff would look at ways of reducing speed along the RubyArawata Road and would get back to the community, and the cost of accommodating pedestrians on the single lane bridge would be investigated.

Driving danger time Windfarm advances Safer place hope SOUTH Gippslanders are more likely to have an accident driving home from work, according to crash statistics. Unlike the critical times of late nights on weekends elsewhere, our road accident statistics suggest a different story, with collisions more likely to occur between 4pm and 6pm on weeknights. “Most of these fatalities and injuries are from people running off the road, with head on smashes being four times more likely than in metropolitan areas, said John Ernst, council’s L2P co-ordinator and executive ofﬁcer of the RoadSafe Gippsland Community Road Safety Council. “Given that this is around the time people are coming home from work, it suggests that drivers are simply not adjusting their driving to suit the conditions,” he said. While Vic Roads has tried to mitigate the risk by placing barriers along their roads to reduce the likelihood of serious injuries, drivers need to be prepared to change their driving style to take into account changing circumstances on the road. “With so many more vehicles on our roads, road safety is a personal responsibility,” Mr Ernst said. “We can no longer assume that a

100km trip will take just over an hour. We may find ourselves stuck behind slow moving heavy vehicles for some time with no opportunity to overtake.” Various things people need to consider: • a 50km trip at 100km/h will take 30 minutes, however at 90km/h, it will only take three minutes longer; • trucks can flick up stones and smash windscreens and damage bonnets, so double the distance you would normally travel behind them to save yourself damage and dollars and you’ll actually get a better view around them; • truck drivers need to be aware that many road shoulders, particularly on corners, have gone off-camber and this will increase the chances of a rollover; and • given the increased damage to roads, there will be more road crews out repairing road damage and further slowing your journey. “The L2P Learner Driver Mentor Program will see many young inexperienced drivers out on our roads driving slower and more carefully, and we would ask other drivers to show patience and respect to these beginners,” Mr Ernst said. “Driving needs to be practiced to become a natural reflex, so let’s support them.”

A NEW windfarm for Wonthaggi has gone to the next stage. The Star announced some time ago that Synergy Wind was proposing a windfarm for St Clair, which is about 3kms north of Wonthaggi. Bass MLA Ken Smith said a planning application for the 15-turbine wind farm has been lodged with Bass Coast Shire Council. He has just met with protesting neighbours. They are worried that their health - including headaches and sleep deprivation will be affected and property values will plummet. Mr Smith said the proposed turbines are up to 130m in height, twice the size of those at the Wonthaggi Windfarm near the coast. The turbines are expected to generate about 30 megawatts of power, a level that requires only council, rather than State approval. Mr Smith said the new turbines were expected to

supplement the 80 megawatts of power needed to run the Wonthaggi desalination plant. He said Bass Coast Shire Council is expected to undertake a pre-application hearing next month. But shire planning director Hannah Duncan-Jones, said she had not received a wind farm planning application. Mr Smith is concerned that even if council doesn’t approve the wind farm, Synergy Wind would take the matter to appeal. “There is a very real risk that the State Government would approve a larger development so that it could go ahead,” he said. Mr Smith described wind turbines as a blight on the landscape and an ineffective source of energy. “As well as this, any future development to the north of Wonthaggi will be severely hindered,” he said.

A NEIGHBOURHOOD safer place during a bushﬁre could be established at Sandy Point and also at other coastal towns.

South Gippsland Shire Council is awaiting State Government feedback on a report with recommendations, after discussions between council and a government taskforce. Council had identified six sites in four high risk coastal towns and also in Mirboo North, Koonwarra and Nyora. None of the identified sites passed the stage one Country Fire Authority fire rating assessments and so no safer places have been named. Gippsland South MLA Peter Ryan called on the Premier John Brumby to implement safer places soon. “With the start of the 2010 bushfire season now just weeks away, Victoria has only 134 neighbourhood safer places compared to 789 in New South Wales,” he said.

PAGE 8 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

POLICE BRIEFS Streaker chase A MAN who was seen exposing himself to two females with young children is being hunted by police.

Rude nude: police are on the search for this man, who was walking the Leongatha streets naked recently.

At around 7pm on Sunday, October 10 the man stood on the steps in the horticultural park completely naked, except for a cap. He stood there exposing himself to the females and then ran off through bushes in the park. Around 10 minutes later, the same male was seen by another female walking along Roberts Lane at the back of Paradise Pizza. The man is described as being caucasian, in his late 20s, average height and weight, dark brown wavy collar length hair and a dark brown full beard. He was wearing a peaked cap with a camouﬂage design and black sunglasses. He may have possibly been carrying some clothing. If anyone has any information regarding this man, they are urged to contact Leongatha Police

on 5662 2285.

Burglary rampage FIVE businesses in Mirboo North were broken into overnight between October 14 and 15. Minor damage was caused. Craig Young’s Butchers and the Mirboo North Pizzeria had money stolen, while Brava Hair, Continental Drift and the Mirboo North Kindergarten were all broken into, with cash being taken. Two days earlier at 3amWednesday, the man police believe to be responsible for the string of crimes was disturbed as he was jimmying open the door at Korumburra’s Green Door café. Leongatha Police and the Bass Coast Criminal Investigation Unit are looking for any information on the topic, and are urging all businessowners not to leave petty cash on their premises.

Tip steal ALUMINIUM cans in large hessian

bags and loose metal were stolen from the Venus Bay tip transfer station between Sunday night and Monday morning. Bolt cutters were used to cut the lock on the fence, and the surveillance camera was moved so that ﬁlming the theft would not be possible. Inverloch Police believe the thieves were looking to take more but may have been interrupted.

Speeders ﬁned FOSTER Police issued two penalty notices to speeding drivers over the weekend. The ﬁrst was for a 51-year-old Seaspray man who was travelling at 94km/hour in the 80km/hour zone in Toora on Friday, October 15. The other notice was handed out to a 19-year-old Toora woman who was caught driving at 111km/hour on the 100km/hour South Gippsland Highway on Sunday, October 17.

Trailer theft A HEAVY duty tandem trailer was stolen from a driveway in Bourke Street, Korumburra between Saturday and Sunday. The large trailer is light blue, and police are looking for any assistance in relation to the theft.

Roller damage THE roller door of the Inverloch Community Centre was damaged at some stage over the weekend. Police believe that it may have been kicked in, though no one has entered the centre. They are after any information that may be able to assist them in relation to the incident.

Tax pain By Jane Ross MURRAY Goulburn could be slugged $2 million a year, thanks to a new State tax. It’s billed as a “surcharge” and will be levied on every truck that enters the Port of Melbourne’s Swanson Dock. As one of the largest container exporters from the Port of Melbourne, Murray Goulburn will be hard hit. The “surcharge”, set to be as high as $180, is on top of other port fees. Shadow Minister for Agriculture and deputy leader of the Nationals Peter Walsh, has blown the whistle on the tax. “Victoria’s agricultural industries are set to be hardest hit,” he declared. Murray Goulburn’s general manager of industry and government affairs Robert Poole, told The Star the charges aren’t set yet and the annual $2 million cost to the co-operative was an estimation. Co-operative representatives have been speaking with the State Government about the move. “We believe the government has listened and we’ll be working through how to address it,” Mr Poole said. Mr Poole said Murray Goulburn exports 25,000 containers a year out of the Port of Melbourne and in 2009-10, those exports had a value of $1.16 billion. Farmers and consumers would suffer if the surcharge goes ahead. Mr Walsh was scathing. “This unfair and discriminatory new tax is on top of wharfage and channel deepening charges. The majority of this revenue will come straight from the pockets of the state’s farmers,” Mr Poole said.

Making Victoria FireReady: The Department of Sustainability and Environment is preparing Victoria for bushﬁres. Planned burning in our parks and forests is underway. • • • • •

We can reduce fuel loads with planned burning. This can reduce the intensity and severity of future bushﬁres. We are increasing the amount of burning we do. We’ll be burning whenever the conditions are right. Our priority is protecting communities.

Burning helps to protect people, townships and the environment but it has risks and inconveniences. You may be affected by these planned burns and see burns or smell smoke.

Planned burning starting soon

You can ﬁnd out what’s happening in your area by visiting the DSE website, calling us and by listening to your local radio station. Victorian Bushﬁre Information Line:

1800 240 667 www.dse.vic.gov.au

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 9

Sharp bend: the ﬁrst warning

Too fast: motorists are warned about their speed.

Slow down: if all else fails “Slow Down”, says the sign.

Ruby straight dangerous! By Tony Giles A NEW illuminated sign on the South Gippsland Highway appears to indicate the Ruby straight is now dangerous. Despite it being one of the straightest stretches on the highway, the sign, which went up last Thursday, ﬁrstly warns “Sharp bend” even though there’s no bend in sight. If that’s not enough the sign then warns the driver “too fast” then “slow down”. This is on a highway with a 100 km/h speed limit! The Star has not been able to determine what the reasoning is behind the sign, but a Ruby resident said it could be to do with the issue they have with the dangerous turnoff into Ruby from the highway.

“Maybe they’re just trying to slow the trafﬁc down, that’s my guess,” said one resident. “It seems a bit ridiculous to have a sign that says ‘too fast’ when it is a highway with the maximum of 100km/h speed limit,” another

commented. Another theory is the road needs repair and it is another way of stalling the ﬁx-up job like in other areas. Holes have reappeared near Gwythers Siding Road near Koonwarra, while the highway coming into Leongatha near the hospital is like playing dodgem cars, except the cars are trying to avoid a series of potholes. Other signs appear to indicate there are other problems too; like the “too fast” signs near the dangerous Koonwarra bends and the “new” 80 km/h speed zones coming into Korumburra near Coal Creek. Signs on all areas of the highway not only confuse the motorist but also indicate that good, old fashioned road maintenance is a thing of the past.

Rain, traffic ruin roads By Jane Ross THE wet weather is playing havoc with our roads. Bass Coast Council infrastructure director Steve Piasente, said three things cause roads to fail. These are: light pavement, heavy vehicles and wet weather. “We’ve had the lot.” So much so, he’s having to ask council for more money for road maintenance. Mr Piasente said it has not yet reached the stage where the shire budget will be blown, but some juggling has had to take place. For example, an extra $50,000 was needed for work on West Creek Road. “When water gets in to roads, they fail quickly,” he said. “Wet weather has had an impact.” He, Mayor Cr Peter Paul and

CEO Allan Bawden, will meet with State Roads Minister Tim Pallas, before the end of the month. The deputation is at the direction of councillors, who have been complaining for years about the state of various roads in the shire, including the Bass Highway between Anderson and Wonthaggi and beyond. When Mr Pallas was in the area over a year ago, he promised to return within six months. He didn’t, despite a lure offered by Cr John Duscher of a leisurely cycle through the attractive countryside. Councillors recently called with some force for the second meeting to take place. Constant heavy trafﬁc to and from the Wonthaggi desalination plant has created a problems with a lot of roads, especially local ones. They are the responsibility

of council and Mr Piasente said they are neither designed nor built to take the trafﬁc that is now pounding them. “That was always going to be an issue,” he said. The impact was highlighted by Mr Piasente in the desalination plant’s environment effects statement in mid 2008. He said on Friday the plant’s construction company Thiess Degremont had recently done “some major patching” on some of the worst affected local roads including Gurdies/St Helier Road and Stewarts Road, Grantville. “Our roads are suffering more because they are not built to take the trafﬁc,” he said. One was damaged to the point that it had to be reduced to one lane. “Our agreement is that Thiess Degremont do repairs as roads are damaged.”

While he is grateful that is now occurring, he agreed it has “taken longer than we’d hoped”. Council’s deputy mayor and chair of the Bass Coast Road Safety Committee Cr Veronica Dowman, said the combination of wear and tear and busy roads meant drivers needed to take extra care. “Coming up to Christmas, we can expect things to get busier. It’s important that we remain patient and focused on the road to ensure the safety of everyone,” she said. “At the moment, trafﬁc conditions are changing regularly, so drivers should pay extra attention to any signage and potential hazards.” Public road maintenance concerns can be lodged with council on 1300 226 278. They will then be directed to the appropriate authority.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT VICTORIA

Grants for Tertiary Students and Host Employers Are you a full-time tertiary student from regional Victoria? Studying away from home? You may be eligible for a grant of up to $5000 to complete a paid cadetship in your home town during term breaks. Businesses located in regional Victoria who wish to employ a cadet are also eligible to apply for funding of up to $2500*. The cadetship must be related to the student’s ﬁeld of study and last for a minimum of six weeks full time or 225 hours part time, over a one or two year period. Early bird applications close 27 October 2010 and must be submitted through your local RDV regional ofﬁce.

www.rdv.vic.gov.au *Conditions apply

PAGE 10 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

THERE were celebrations galore recently at Archies on the Creek. It was the 10th wedding anniversary for Robert and Virginia Hayward of Cape Paterson, as well as Robert’s birthday and Lillian Nash’s birthday. The Cape Paterson residents really looked like a happy crowd around the table.

ON Friday there will be some very strange looking people roaming the streets of Leongatha. The Year 12 students have ﬁnished their schooling lives and they will be celebrating the occasion this week. After that they’ll be knuckling down to study for their exams.

KORUMBURRA’S 2010 Buskers Festival will be on Saturday, November 27 from 9am. The festival is open to all, with entrants being able to apply online at www.korumburrabuskersfest.com.Applications close November 15, with song writing applications

closing on November 8. CHRISTMAS should be a time of sharing and helping, and you can do that little bit extra by buying charity Christmas cards. For Leongatha residents, the South Gippsland Citizens Advice Bureau is the place to get your cards. Just drop in and select the cards you like from the range of designs and charities. To get your cards you can drop in or you can call 5662 2111, Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm. WOORAYL Lodge’s Cent Day is on again this Thursday, October 21. All are welcome to join in the fun beginning at 1.30pm. NOEL Laing loves to spin a yarn. So last week, he was enjoying telling tall tales about the white covering on two of his paddocks on the Leongatha-Inverloch Road. Had aliens indeed arrived? Noel would like

people to think so, but it was in fact a spread of lime. He’d heard it was good for the grass and the soil and thought he’d try it out. “I’ll be the judge,” he declared. LEONGATHA has been grooming some singers. Congratulations to Kate of St Laurence Primary School and Rebecca Dowthwaite of Leongatha Secondary College. Kate has been accepted into the Australian Youth Choir for 2011, while Rebecca has been invited to perform with the Australian Youth Choir at this year’s Melbourne Cup, including performing at the Melbourne Cup Parade. THE Australian Breastfeeding Association is holding free coffee and conversation meetings in Korumburra on the ﬁrst Friday of each month in the Korumburra Community Meeting Rooms next to the library. The session from 10.30-

12.30pm on Friday, October 2. Babies and young children are most welcome.

club’s trip to Adelaide saw them on the loose in the city of churches, but all returned safe and sound.

THE Leongatha Post Ofﬁce currently has a display cabinet full of Wildlife Caring Stamps. Margaret Pettigrew noticed the stamps and thought that she deserved full marks for the exhibition. For the full stamp product range, go to auspost.com.au/stamps.

SPONSOR a walker or join The Bible Society’s annual Walk for Bibles on Saturday, October 23. Meet at the park at the start of the rail trail in Leongatha at 12.30pm for a walk to Koonwarra Hall, where there will be afternoon tea and a DVD on the work of the Bible Society.

FISH Creek and District Primary School’s Fete and Garage Sale will be held this Saturday, October 23 at the Anglican Church, Station Road, Foster from 8am. There will be children’s activities, and a hearty breakfast or barbecue available. THE Leongatha Football Club has returned from a footy trip to Darwin, and while some of them are a little sorer and sorrier, it’s been reported they all had a good time. The netball

PLANS are underway for this year’s Christmas extravaganza in Leongatha, Carols in the Drome. If you want to be involved in any way, contact Dennis on 5662 2455 or Nanette on 5662 4020. Please support this event by allocating shopper docket points at Michael’s Supa IGA, Leongatha. THE 38th Meeniyan Annual Art and Craft Exhibition of Gippsland artists will be held over

Guild donates to SES

the Cup weekend. Kicking off the weekend is the cheese and wine opening on Friday night. There will be the usual but fantastic Jazz among the Arts on Saturday night and the Open Gardens on Sunday. For more information contact Tarnya Wilson on 5664 7473. THE South Gippsland Singers, led by conductor Larry Hills, combined with Poowong Consolidated Primary and their conductor Phillip Beggs to sing in front of a packed house at the Dakers Centre on Sunday afternoon. More than 180 people gathered inside the hall to listen to the singers present Look at the World in a Song. THE temporary fencing at the site of the former Korumburra Saleyards has been torn down by wind over the weekend. The fence, which was covered by the yellow hessian, is now lying on

the ground surrounding the area.

THERE will be a Garden Day at Dumbalk and Dumbalk North on Sunday, November 7. Tickets are $10 a person, and will be available at the CFA at Dumbalk from 12pm onwards. All Gardens will be signposted. The day will feature several interesting gardens, some of them new, in the village of Dumbalk and ending at the Dumbalk Valley Garden Centre, 825 Farmers Road, Dumbalk North. A light afternoon tea will be provided and all prizes will be drawn at around 3.30pm.

A HUGE commendation goes out to the Foster Rotary Club, who helped out the Phillip Island and San Remo Rotary Clubs with their many jobs at the Phillip Island Moto GP.

Goodbye Joan

THE St Peter’s Ladies’ Guild in Leongatha has donated $500 to the Leongatha State Emergency Service.

JOAN Smith was farewelled by the congregation of St Peter’s Anglican Church, Leongatha on Sunday.

SES captain Tony Lindhard said the money would go towards a light tower project. Just under $200 of the sum was raised from donations during the Flowers in Praise display at St Peter’s Anglican Church during the Leongatha Daffodil Festival. Guild members added to the amount from guild funds raised through catering events.

Fond memories: Joan Smith (second from left) is farewelled by Nancy Embleton, Margaret Stokes and Reverend Janet Wallis.

The Leongatha resident of 42 years will move to Reservoir in Melbourne, to be closer to family. She has already joined a church and gardening group, and is looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren. Ms Smith has also been involved with Leongatha Lyric Theatre, a walking group and craft activities.

No escape THE London tour guide told Neville and Margaret Drummond that they would meet someone they knew if they stood under the Statue of Enos in Trafalgar Square for 20 minutes.

Money yours: St Peter’s Ladies’ Guild president Coral Johnston presents SES captain Tony Lindhard with the donation.

“Ha, ha. More tourist fairytales we thought,” Neville said. But soon enough, the Drummonds of Pound Creek met Barry Zimmermann and Mark Haines of Inverloch, who had just ﬁnished a cycling tour of London and were off to ride parts of the Tour de France. The Drummonds, on the other hand, had planned a leisurely motor tour of Wales and Ireland. In London: Margaret and Neville Drummond, with Barry Zimmermann and “You just can’t go anywhere without meeting some- Mark Haines. one from Inverloch,” Neville said.

Cancer support urged President to continue CANCER Council Victoria is urging South Gippsland residents to take to the track on April 9 and 10, 2011 and join the South Gippsland Relay For Life at the Dumbalk Recreation Reserve. The relay is an overnight event where teams of 10 or more take turns to keep a baton moving around the track for the duration of the event. South Gippsland Relay For Life committee member Walter Aich said the relay is a unique opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost and ﬁght back against cancer. The event has raised more than $25,000 for cancer research, education and support programs, which the community should feel really proud of,” Mr Aich said. For more information about The South Gippsland Relay For Life, visit www.relayforlife.org.au or call 1300 65 65 85, email southgippsland@replayforlife.org.au.

THE Korumburra Business Association will hold its annual general meeting this Wednesday night. Current president Doug White is expected to return for another year at the helm. Mr White said he only expected to do the job for one year but, unless someone wants to take it on, he is likely to be given the nod for one more year. Mr White said he expected almost every other position to change, with a number of people stepping down. “The meeting should be pretty short and mainly social, there won’t be too much done in the way of business apart from the elections,” Mr White said. The meeting takes place at the Austral Hotel, Korumburra, at 6pm.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 11

Cancer rates on par By Chris Brown CANCER incidence rates in South Gippsland and Bass Coast are comparable with the rest of Victoria.

But figures reveal prostate cancer is the leading cancer in South Gippsland and bowel cancer is the most prolific in Bass Coast. There is nothing unusual about incident rates of different types of cancers in South Gippsland and Bass Coast shires, according to the Cancer Council of Victoria. The council supplied The Star with detailed statistics about cancer incidences by age, gender and cancer body site. Overall Bass Coast has a lower rate than urban, rural and the whole of Victoria. The rate for men in Bass Coast was significantly lower than other areas, while South Gippsland

has a rate that is slightly higher than urban and the state, but lower than rural areas. In South Gippsland Shire, 514 people were diagnosed with new cancers in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Of these, 163 new cases were diagnosed among men aged 60-79. In Bass Coast Shire 577 people were diagnosed with new cancers in the same time period, with 214 cases in men aged 60-79. In both shires, men were diagnosed with more new cases than women. Prostate cancer was the leading new case in South Gippsland with 95 diagnoses, followed by bowel (82), breast (65), melanoma (50), lung (32), lymphoma (25), leukaemia (15), pancreas and myelodysplastic (13 each), and miscellaneous sites (111). Bowel cancer was the leading new case in Bass Coast with 92 diagnoses, followed by prostate (86), breast (67), lung (59), melanoma (50), lymphoma

(20), leukaemia (19), kidney and myelodysplastic (17 each), and miscellaneous sites (134). Cancer control information manager at the Cancer Council Victoria’s Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Vicky Thursfield, did not know why cancer rates were significantly lower among Bass Coast Shire males. “Areas do have higher and lower rates and it could be due to any reason,” she said. Other than that there is nothing exceptional about cancer rates or incidences of different types of cancer in the region. Age is the biggest single risk factor for cancer, Ms Thursfield said. “So an area where the population is older is going to have more cancer,” she said. “The other risk factors are largely lifestyle things that may be affected by ethnicity and occupation.” Melbourne has a lower cancer rate

than regional areas mainly because of ethnicity. Ms Thursﬁeld said there was a much lower migrant population in rural areas. “So the rural population is of northern European descent, so they tend to have higher rates,” she said. Meanwhile Wonthaggi hospital will likely offer chemotherapy and increased cancer surgery options in the future. A service plan for health services in the region will be realised shortly containing recommendations about new services in the region. Bass Coast Regional Health chief executive ofﬁcer Lea Pope said it was likely in the future there will be more cancer services available at Wonthaggi. Currently people have some bowel and abdominal cancer surgery at Wonthaggi. Ms Pope said there was no visiting

oncologist to the town or chemotherapy services. Gippsland Southern Health Service offers some chemotherapy at Leongatha and has a visiting oncologist once a fortnight. Ms Pope said she believed there was only one visiting oncologist in the whole of Gippsland. “In the future there will always be people who need to travel to the tertiary hospital for cancer care because of the complexity of their particular needs,” she said. “We certainly will not provide radiotherapy. There is a regional radiotherapy service in Traralgon or they can go to Melbourne. “People tend to travel to Melbourne from this area.” For chemotherapy, the majority of Bass Coast region patients go to Melbourne, with some choosing Leongatha or the Latrobe Valley.

Fish catch blow By Chris Brown CORNER Inlet ﬁshermen will be looking for a productive season after a disappointing winter catch.

Fishermen have been unable to fish for weeks during the winter due to high winds. Third generation fisherman Luke Anedda has encountered a shocking run. “If you get calmer weather you can catch plenty of fish, but if it is blowing a gale you can’t,” he said. The winter was a poor one for catching whiting, so rock flathead and calamari were targeted. “In the next month as the water starts to heat up, we’ll catch fish like mackerel and silver trevally,” Mr Anedda said. The Port Welshpool man works with his father Nick. The Aneddas are on the water about 120-140 days per year, but are not allowed to fish between noon on Fridays and 5pm Sundays. Mr Anedda junior said the cost

of a licence is the biggest hindrance to entering the Corner Inlet fishing game. They are currently being touted for $500,000, with the last one selling for $180,000 five years ago. “If I was to go to a bank and say can I have $500,000 for a licence, I will be working very hard to pay for it,” he said. There are 18 inlet licences with about six of the holders only parttime fishermen. But despite this, Mr Anedda is optimistic about the industry. “There’s a good future in fishing, but unless you get a licence handed down to you it’s very hard,” he said. “There’s a really good living in it if you know what you’re doing.” Mr Anedda began cray fishing in his mid-teens and joined the Corner Inlet industry at 18 where he spent a few years learning the ropes, A highlight of the job is being out on the water in summer on a calm day. “It’s nothing for me to go out and see a pod of 100 dolphins or a whale. People pay to see that stuff, but it’s

right on my door step,” he said. “If you have a really good catch, you know the pay cheque is going to be fantastic and you get a bit excited. “The low points are when you’re sitting looking to pay the bills, but it’s blowing a gale.” Mr Anedda also has several school mates who fish at Port Welshpool. “We’re in the gentleman’s game in the inlet here,” he said. “Most people in this industry have young people working for them or are those who have worked for years. We are lucky we don’t have the riff raff like around Victoria.” The productive inlet delivers the most fish between November to midwinter. Overall the fishing goes in cycles of about seven years, with good and bad years. The Aneddas’ fish is taken to Melbourne by Stoitse Transport where agents sell it less than 24 hours after they have been caught.

Luke Anedda: the 23-year-old has been a ﬁsherman since he was 18.

Inlet access safe By Brad Lester

PEOPLE would still be allowed to use Anderson Inlet if a marine park was imposed. That is the view of the Victorian National Parks Association and welcomed by the Anderson Inlet Angling Club. The association wants the State Government to establish more marine parks around Victoria, including Anderson and Corner inlets. But the association is not trying to restrict anglers’ access to entire waterways, said marine and coastal project ofﬁcer, Simon Branigan. “We will not close down Anderson Inlet,” he said. The association has called for the government to undertake a two year science review to determine areas of the inlet that

warrant protection. “The association’s focus is on a scientific inquiry to fill in the gaps in knowledge,” Mr Branigan said. Marine parks and reserves were established around the Bunurong coast between Inverloch and Cape Paterson in 2002. Anderson Inlet Angling Club president June Laycock said some areas of the inlet could be set aside for conservation purposes. “I’m a great believer in no-take zones because they are places for fish to stock up,” she said. “We’ve got migratory birds like snipe that come here from Russia and the curlews and terns too, and they go down to Mahers Landing to breed. “In some areas of the inlet, there are a lot of snags and mangroves and that’s where the small fish go, so I can understand

what the national parks association is looking at.” But Ms Laycock opposed shutting the entire inlet to fishing. “That would hurt tourist numbers in Inverloch because a lot of people are afraid to go out across the bar. A lot of people have to just fish in the inlet,” she said. “It’s very important that the national parks association meets with the people that fish, and the tourists and the businesses here.” The association has not been dissuaded by the government’s recent declaration that it would not consider more marine parks. “It was always going to be a big process to establish more marine parks. As a starting point, we want to put the information on the table and I believe that will look at the effects and we need new debate about where

new marine parks will be imposed,” Mr Branigan said. The association realises the importance of recreational and commercial ﬁshing to the South Gippsland economy and people’s lifestyle, but believes sand ﬂats and salt marsh habitats in the inlet warrant protection. “Essentially our review has found the area has high conservation values that warrant further investigation and further protection,” Mr Branigan said. The size of the marine park is yet to be determined. The association recently launched a new television ad featuring some of Victoria’s unique and beautiful marine life. The ad is part of a new campaign to raise awareness about the marine environment and threats facing the state’s marine and coastal areas.

Locusts have started hatching. Find out when they are due to hatch in your area. Call the DPI Locust Hotline on 1300 135 559 or visit www.dpi.vic.gov.au/locusts DPI0084_LS_H

Locust control starts at your place.

PAGE 12 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Backwards, forwards

E D I T O R I A L Hey, leave our doctors alone AT A TIME when country towns across Australia are battling to find – and keep – every doctor they can, South Gippsland doctors are being subjected to poaching attempts. They are not being targeted for other country towns or Third World countries where they are desperately needed, but postings in regional centres and cities. While arguably these places have much bigger populations than places like South Gippsland, one would have thought doctor numbers would have been adequate there or easier to obtain. As it stands, Leongatha Healthcare needs more doctors and does not have enough GPs to meet demand, particularly when it comes to filling an on-call, after hours roster. Practice manager Judy Robb said having a GP and obstetrician on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year plus having an anaesthetist available at short notice, places a huge demand on the clinic’s doctors. Rural clinics such as Leongatha Healthcare do more than their fair share of training, offering opportunities for three registrars in a bid to expose junior doctors to the benefits of practising in rural Australia and hopefully encourage them to work here full time. Country communities, as Ms Robb notes, go out of their way to welcome new doctors to town to make them feel at home. After all, locals know what it is like to have to wait long periods to see a doctor. Gippsland Southern Health Service chief executive officer Gary Templeton regards highly the skills provided by GPs in Leongatha and Korumburra. But he would like extra visiting specialist services, as more services have been available in the past or specialists have withdrawn their services recently. While the downside of living in a capitalist society is that the market is open and employers will make attractive offers to lure the right staff, doctors are more than just commodities. Their services are vital. Especially when one considers these figures from the Rural Doctors Association of Australia: • life expectancy in rural and remote areas is up to seven years less than the city; • indigenous life expectancy in rural and remote areas is between 12-17 years less than the rest of Australia; • rural mortality rates are up to three times higher than city rates, meaning that 4600 additional people die in rural Australia each year than would die if they lived in cities; • people living in rural and remote areas tend to have higher levels of disease risk factors than those in major cities; • people with cancer in regional areas are 35 per cent more likely to die within five years of diagnosis than patients in the city; • there is a higher prevalence of mental health problems in rural and remote areas; and • suicide rates in rural and remote areas are up to 30 per cent higher than cities. South Gippslanders want – and deserve – to live as long and healthy lives as they can. That’s why attempts to poach doctors are not welcome here.

I AM encouraged by Bass MLA Ken Smith’s input (The Star, October 12). The information he provided was also addressed in the previous week’s edition of The Star by the CEO of South Gippsland Shire Council. Ken has clarified now, the State Liberal Party’s position on the distinct differences between the two bus runs referred to, which since the beginning of the year, he declined to personally, debate with me, his office directing me to Peter Ryan MP, who directed me back to Ken’s office, which told me their political boundary ended at Inverloch. They then suggested I contact Russell Broadbent to which I had to explain, he is a federal politician and this is a State Government issue. I was then told if I wanted an official response from Ken, I must submit my enquiries by letter through the post. That is, send all the emails I had sent on the matter, to Ken, by post. I realised from experience, this method can take anything from six weeks to six months to get a response, usually something like, thank you for your interest in this matter, you can be assured, the government takes this matter very seriously and we will look into it. Naturally, I didn’t waste my time following such an instruction. It’s called passing the buck. Peter Ryan MP, on the other hand, since announcing he was going to push for the government to extend the community bus run until December, one month after the election, still appears confused over the difference between the two bus services (at the time, the community bus had been terminated since October, 2009) and remains publicly silent on the matter.

I suggest Mr Smith could contact him and educate Peter on the matter, much the same as he inferred he was correcting me, despite repeating the very comments I’d made. At least we seem to agree on something. Robert Field, Venus Bay.

Who pays? THE Draft Sustainable Water Strategy for Gippsland Region is available for comment. Encouragingly it recommends increased use of storm water and recycling and contains no reliance on the desalination plant for mainstream water supplies. Lance Creek Reservoir, which supplies Wonthaggi, Inverloch and Cape Paterson was connected to the desalination plant site, to provide water during construction. The draft strategy retains this connection to provide water “from the Melbourne water grid” to these towns “when the local supply is inadequate”. The intent is to draw water from the Melbourne grid, not from the desalination plant. There is no intent for any other South Gippsland Water supply to be connected to the desal plant. The strategy does leave open the possibility of some other supplies to connect into the Melbourne grid. As we recover from the shock of the revelation that ordinary Victorians have to pay AquaSure the $18-plus billion cost of the desal project, even if the plant is never used to produce desalinated water, questions about paying this cost begin to form. Does anyone, apart from Premier Brumby and Water Minister Holding, know exactly which Victorian citizens are going to have to pay the cost? We know that Melbourne Water customers will contribute but are there enough of them to bear the full $18-plus billion burden. If they have to

pick up the entire $18-plus billion in water service charges, they will not be able to afford to use any water – desalinated or not! Will other Victorians share the cost: Victorian taxpayers, all Victorian households? All water customers of all water authorities in Victoria? Only water authorities with potential access to desalinated water? Who knows? The question arises: will the tenuous link from Lance Creek to the desalination plant commit Wonthaggi, Inverloch and Cape Paterson water customers to contributing to the cost of the plant? Would severing this link remove this obligation to pay? Without these answers regional water authorities may inadvertently commit customers to paying more than necessary for water. Lyn Whitlam, Glen Forbes.

Penguin risk SO some of the penguins that sustain the multi-million dollar Phillip Island Nature Park penguin parade have to swim 120 kilometres to catch food for themselves and their young (ABC’s Penguin Island October 14). What they need is a desalination plant 35 kilometres away to further deplete their food sources by killing organisms further down the food chain. No, the left hand doesn’t know and doesn’t care what the right hand is doing. It’ll be someone else’s problem. Aileen Vening, Inverloch

Questioning claims BASS residents will have received Ken Smith’s latest Community Update and many will be as dismayed as I was at the claims he makes.

Ken Smith knows that he and the Liberals can take little credit for any of the Labor Government’s achievements in Bass. In fact, I recall that Mr Smith criticised, in the local press, many of these achievements. Let’s not forget that Ken Smith was a member of the last Liberal Government that tore up the rail tracks; sacked the teachers and nurses, with its 10 per cent budget cuts across the board. And he absolutely knows that it was the Labor Government that put these services back, right across Victoria, including in Bass. Ken Smith shamelessly claims credit for what the Labor Government has done for the Bass electorate, for example: the restoration and extension of rail services, the restoration and construction of our railway stations, the re-building of Inverloch Primary School, the increasing of ambulance services and paramedic numbers, the “undergrounding” of the power lines to the desal plant, the duplication of the Bass Highway, helping to finance the new rooms at Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club, to name a few. These government investments were commitments made and delivered, and where there were issues, they were worked through often with the assistance of local Upper House Labor MP, Johan Scheffer, and myself. I ask, what did Mr Smith actually do in any practical sense, to get these initiatives implemented, as he claims in his Community Update? The Parliamentary records tell us that Mr Smith spoke only briefly in Parliament, on only one or two of these issues. The truth is that these significant achievements do not belong to Mr Smith or the Liberals. They belong to the local communities and the leadership of the Victorian Liberal Government. Gerry Lonergan, Labor candidate for Bass.

Letters guidelines

VOXPOP! VOX

ALL letters should be kept to 400 words or less. The Star reserves the right to edit all letters for length and style. Writer’s details, including full name, address and phone number (not for publication), must be included.

With the Australian Motorcycle GP in Phillip Island over the weekend, The Star decided to ask the motorbike riders what they thought of roads in South Gippsland.

Subdivision VCAT bound RESIDENTS of a Leongatha court will appeal a subdivision proposal in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Residents of Louise Simon Court Leongatha have lodged a joint application for a hearing at VCAT after South Gippsland Shire Council issued a notice of decision to issue a planning permit for a subdivision of a property in the court. VCAT will be asked to consider whether or not the planning and approval process has been correctly followed, and whether or not the neighbourhood character of the court has been assessed according to the requirements of the Planning and Environment Act 1987. A spokesperson for the residents said the VCAT application represented the views of the majority of residents in the court. It was emphasised the residents are not against subdivision per se, rather they are against the type and scale of subdivision as proposed. The residents claim the proposal should be changed to complement the surrounding properties and neighbourhood.

I enjoyed the ride through; there was one roundabout near Wonthaggi that had a lot of potholes on the road though. Jose Miguel Sydney

I thought the road was fair. As a country road it’s all right. There were a few potholes. We’d come round a corner and they were right there, which needed to be ﬁxed. James Skordor Sydney

Over all I think they were fair. A few sections of the road needed resealing, and other sections were okay. I think they just need some maintenance. Bruce Tippett Sydney

I thought they were ﬁne. If you’re riding to the conditions and taking notice of the road it’s ﬁne. It’s to be expected on country roads. Dean Harrison Sydney

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 13

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Councils will win: Ryan By Brad Lester A FLYING squad of planning specialists would help fasttrack development in South Gippsland and Bass Coast shire councils.

Election mode: Gippsland South MLA Peter Ryan in Leongatha last Tuesday.

Gippsland South MLA Peter Ryan said the Coalition’s proposal for such a squad would target complicated planning strategies, such as the C51 planning scheme amendment adopted by South Gippsland council earlier this year. The proposal was one of many for this region, the Nationals leader outlined to The Star during a preelection interview last week. “We would have departmental planners working in concert with local planners, with the intention being to make this resource available for a period to speed up the process,” Mr Ryan said. “Land use is a big challenge for

Labor man celebrates spending INCREASED spending in health and education by the Labor State Government have been claimed by the Labor candidate for Gippsland South, Steve Boyce. The railways worker from Sale has stood for the seat previously. “I am proud to accept Labor Party endorsement for this election because I believe the State Labor Government has done great work in rebuilding the services needed by the communities in Gippsland South,” he said. “Gippsland South is suffering with lack of representation as the leader of the Victorian Nationals spends more time attacking government than working for his local electorate. Local issues are not on his agenda.” Mr Boyce claimed that locally, the government had, since 2003, invested $1,228,898 in local kindergartens and children’s services through capital works and equipment grants in the South Gippsland Shire. He said nursing num-

bers had been boosted by 28 in South Gippsland in 2009 and increased hospital budgets in South Gippsland from $2.36 million in 1999-00 to $4.45 million in 2010-11. Mr Boyce also claimed Labor had spent more on education, increasing staff at government schools in Gippsland South by 3.6 per cent and invested $75.6 million in government schools since 1999. “Our record is clear, unlike the previous Liberal/ Nationals government that closed schools, reduced public housing investment and whose leader referred to us as the toenails of the state. Unlike the coalition, our record of investing in regional and rural Victoria is very clear,” Mr Boyce said. “It’s time Gippsland South had a member who cared about our communities and was part of a government that invested in our future.” Mr Ryan responded by saying he was doing the best he could to represent the interests of the communities of the Gippsland South electorate. “I am not a cheer squad for John Brumby. My task

country councils.” The Coalition is expected to announce a coastal development policy in the lead-up to the November 27 poll – an issue of puzzling complexity to local councils faced by the impacts of predicted rising sea levels and climate change. Mr Ryan has already promised overtaking lanes for the Strzelecki Highway north and south of Leongatha, with each lane expected to cost about $1.3 million. The Coalition has also promised to fund improvements to the South Gippsland Highway. Mr Ryan entered South Gippsland via the Strzelecki Highway last Tuesday. “There certainly are areas, particularly on this side of the Strzeleckis, where the roads are wanting attention and I would love to see that addressed,” he said. The Shadow Police Minister has pledged to boost police numbers

Desal cost goes up and up By Jane Ross NATIONALS leader Peter Ryan spoke at a desalination protest on the steps of State Parliament recently.

Labor candidate: Steve Boyce. is to keep him and his government up to the mark in terms of promises that have been made and the shortcomings in delivering on appropriate policy,” he said. “So it is that I often comment upon matters such as law and order, lack of police numbers, the mismanagement of our water systems, the failure to have Victoria properly protected to meet the threat of ﬁre and various other issues.” Mr Ryan said the government has allocated funding across different areas of government. “It has had the use of more than $340 billion

over a period spanning 11 years of government. It is money which dwarfs that which was available to the former Coalition Government,” he said. “Politics is the contest of ideas. I am now the Shadow Minister for Police and Emergency Services, for Regional and Rural Victoria and for the Bushﬁre Response. “If the Liberal Nationals Coalition wins the election on November 27, I will hold these roles in government and I will do so proudly on behalf of the people of the Gippsland South electorate.”

locally. “We are clearly in need of more police in our region, just as we are across the state, and my role is to lobby the minister to make more allocations for us,” he said. “People are entitled to walk the streets safely.” With just over a month until the election, Mr Ryan believes the outcome will be “tight”, despite polls indicating the Coalition has a strong chance of gaining government. If so, Mr Ryan will become deputy premier. “We have just announced a $1 billion regional growth fund and there is no question South Gippsland will be a beneﬁciary of that and I will be making some more announcements about that over the course of the next four weeks,” he said. Mr Ryan cited the securing of funding for a new hospital in Leongatha and the Leongatha Education Precinct.

Protestors from South Gippsland and other parts of Victoria, highlighted the astronomical cost of the plant being built at Wonthaggi. Dressed in power black, Monsieur “Digremont” was a prominent ﬁgure at the protest, his pockets stuffed with notes and a fat cigar in his hand. He did his best to “cut a deal” with State Greens’ candidates Neil Rankine and Samantha Dunn. Monsieur “Digremont” was the only one there not alarmed by the exponentially elevating cost of the desalination plant. The Department of Sustainability and Environment which is overseeing the project, told Parliament recently the cost over the 30 year life of the plant was $15.8 billion. In a report just released, Victoria’s Auditor-General upped that to $18 billion. And that doesn’t include the cost of buying the desalinated water. Stephen Cannon, who is president of protest group Watershed Victoria, said the Auditor-General’s report into desalination costs reveals “the whole secrecy and gov-

ernment spin”. Bass MLA Ken Smith said if the maximum production of 150 gigalitres a year is factored in, the cost is closer to $24 billion. “We already know that household water costs will nearly double over the next five years. If these hidden costs continue to surface, there is no doubt that paying for them will be passed on to the consumer,” he said. When the State Government first announced the desalination plant, the cost was given at just over $3 billion. Detractors have long disputed that figure. Meanwhile, Mr Rankine has drawn attention to a complex issue involving the controversial memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which Victoria Police agreed to share with desalination plant consortium AquaSure, details of files on protestors. Now, there is another layer. Mr Rankine said an inquiry into that MOU matter has been shut down. This, he claimed, was because the inquiry was ALP dominated. By shutting down the inquiry, reports or submissions will not be made public. “There must have been some damning things to say,” commented Mr Rankine. He expressed grave concerns about the erosion of democratic rights to free assembly and the right to peaceful protest.

Fire ready on ridge By Isaac McCallum

A FIRE expo will be held at Mirboo North later this month to reduce the risk of potential bushfires. Bushfires wreaked havoc in the small town last year, and the CFA and townspeople will not be keen for a repeat occurrence, Ned Dennis, the chair of the Mirboo North and District Community Recovery Committee, said. The expo is sponsored jointly by the Mirboo North and District Community Recovery Committee, and Mirboo Country Development Inc (MCDI). Council officers will attend to talk to local groups about ways that council can support their projects. “Mirboo District community organisations who participate in this expo will earn $100 towards their costs, such as printing of brochures,” Mr Dennis said.

Shadow Minister for Bushfire Response, Peter Ryan, has also voiced concern for the possibilities of future bushfires, and is pushing to see that the areas have prepared themselves. “I’d hope that towns like Mirboo North are trialling town fire plans on an annual basis,” he said. “The coalition will spend $20,000 on a community fire drill pilot program in two high risk communities in 2011 to test simulated responses to fire scenarios.” The Bushfire Management and Wellbeing Expo is the second event and will be run on Saturday, October 30, in conjunction with the Mirboo North Market at Baromi Park. The expo will take place at the Shire Hall, from 6.30 to 9.30pm. Enquiries about the expo can be directed to Norman Walker on 5668 2546 or Sophie Dixon on 5662 9202.

Lots on SPRING has ﬁnally arrived and people have been out in force to enjoy events around the shire. Good reports have been received relating to recent council events: the Seniors’ Concert, the inaugural Coal Creek Farmers Market and the Literary Festival. The Leongatha Rotary Art and Photographic Show was also voted a great success. Our thanks go to Michael Lorenz of Michael’s IGA Supermarkets for his ongoing support of many community initiatives. The latest has been a contribution of $2000 toward a campaign to prompt rural residents to clearly display their rural road numbers at their main entrances.

It is hoped that volunteers from various community groups will support the campaign by knocking on doors where no numbers are obvious to explain the system and its purpose, and to install the numbers with the owner’s consent. Your rural road number can be found on your rates notice or by contacting council. I encourage property owners to support this universal directional system used by Australia Post, police, ambulance, CFA, SES and council. While it can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency, it also makes practical sense on a daily basis for business and social contacts to be able to ﬁnd your property in a clear and consistent way.

Some properties have a jumble of numbers at their entrance that include lot numbers, RMBs and supplier numbers, and often cause more confusion than clarity. With the ﬁre season looming, clear communication at your property entrance is vital. Congratulations to Linda Ryan of Korumburra on winning a silver medal in the 25m pistol pairs event in Delhi. South Gippsland was proud to have two ﬁne athletes from the region competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, with runner Kaila McKnight of Stony Creek competing in the women’s 1500 metres event. Well done! Cr Jim Fawcett Mayor

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 15

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“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 17

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Solar contest prompts unity LEONGATHA Secondary College has teamed up with Tarwin Valley and Tarwin Lower primary schools for a solar boat building challenge.

Mayor’s message Bass Coast businesses stand out

The students are using recycled materials to create the water vessels, and they are also learning about electrical circuits and solar energy. The schools are aiming to provide a partnership that allows a smooth transition for the future secondary school students. The boats will be tested on October 20 at the Science Olympics, which will be held at the Leongatha Secondary College.

Solar challenge: Tarwin Valley Primary School students Rebecca Riddiford, Jason Riley, Jacob Cecil and Gemma Martin ﬂank Leongatha Secondary College’s Jake Burge.

Painting a saint GRADE 5 and 6 classes at St Laurences Primary School were painting icons of Mary MacKillop last week. The activity was in the lead-up to her canonisation on Sunday in Rome. Students were asked to meditate on the life of Mary MacKillop as they paint. The ﬁnished icons were exhibited at Mary Icon painting: Zac of Grade 6 and Billy of Grade 5 at St Laurences in Leongatha last MacKillop College on the weekend. week.

LAST Friday, along with representatives from the GP Corporation, Phillip Island Racetracks and council, I visited 63 business windows from Grantville to Inverloch to Cowes. The windows were entries in the Best Dressed Business Awards who displayed Grand Prix paraphernalia in creative and interesting ways. GP visitors love the warm Bass Coast welcome and community atmosphere. The window displays form a key part of this welcome; it adds colour to the community and is unique to our shire. This year, there were 20 more entries than last year’s competition, which is a fantastic effort. Welcome and congratulations to all the new businesses that came on board! I would love this competition to get to a point where we can mention that only a small number of businesses across the Shire don’t participate and all the rest do. Businesses display their products with GP material in very interesting ways. The energy, effort and creativity of the staff shine through these displays. This year we’ve got sausages on motorbikes, wombats dressed up in GP gear, oil bottles used to build a motorbike and riders sitting on a toilet. We introduced the Mayor’s Award in to the competition this year. I congratulate Lifeline, Wonthaggi and volunteers for their display which included small motorbikes in the window. Although they were not eligible for a prize, I’m sure anyone who has been into the council ofﬁce in Wonthaggi would agree that the customer service staff there deserve to be acknowledged for their bright and colourful display. Every business that enters the competition receives a display pack to help get them started, thanks to the generosity of Lombards the Paper People. The involvement of all our sponsors is fantastic and we are grateful to them. Each year we review the awards. If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve this competition, please let us know. This week on my radio show I interview Karyn Scott, community planning facilitator, who will give us an update on the Inverloch Community Plan and the review that is currently taking place. The show runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8.30am and 4.30pm, so there is plenty of opportunity to catch it. To check the frequency in your area, log onto www.3mfm.com.au Cr Peter Paul, Mayor Bass Coast Shire Council

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“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 19

European savings available now JOURNEYS to the United Kingdom and Europe are often touted as the trip of a lifetime, a holiday dream to visit a land of history, culture and amazing sights.

Holidaymakers planning to embark on a holiday to Europe next year can save on their airfares and tours by taking advantage of early bird specials. Jetset Leongatha offers flights with a comprehensive range of airlines and tour companies. The agency will be holding a film and information evening on Tuesday, November 9 to explain the significant savings travellers can enjoy by booking soon. Representatives of Trafalgar Tours, Creative Holidays and Uniworld will be guest presenters, but they are not the only

companies Jetset Leongatha deals with, meaning clients can enjoy a diversity of options. Those include Insight Vacations, Globus and Cosmos Tours, Tempo Holidays and of course, APT river cruising in Europe, said Jill Carmody of Jetset Leongatha. “There are other quality operators but we ﬁnd that Trafalgar Tours is the most popular on average for our clients in South Gippsland,” Jill said. “The ultimate aim is for us to bring the holiday of our clients’ choice to fruition. We work by consulting with our clients and we will be sending out invitations to everyone who has expressed an interest in travelling to Europe to attend the evening.” Anyone else interested in the tours is

Holiday time: Jill Ca rmody of Jetset Leon gatha in Paris during Tour in July 2009. a Trafalgar

in Provence in agents at a winery l ve tra r he ot d an ody Feet up: Jill Carm afalgar tour. Tr a g rin du , 09 20 July

invited to attend too. Bookings are requested to assist with seating and supper. “We are able to pre-register for tours even though the brochures have not been launched and there are substantial savings to be made by pre-registering,” Jill said. Travel Corporation, the mother company of Trafalgar Tours, Uniworld Boutique Cruises and Cre-

ative Holidays, will hold its industry launch of packages for 2011 on November 3. Jetset Leongatha staff will be there to learn about the latest offers that can be passed on to customers, plus new tours, new destinations and also stopover deals. Emirates airline has expanded its range of airports to include Prague, Amsterdam and Madrid, and deals

through Qantas and British Airways are always available. Travellers wishing to ﬁnd out more about heading to Europe are invited to book a time with a consultant at Jetset Leongatha for a dedicated discussion. The ﬁlm and information evening will be held at Meeting Room One, Leongatha Memorial Hall, at 7.30pm, November 9.

Looking back: the obelisk from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt, gifted to the French Government in e the19th century and now in the Plac de la Concorde, Paris.

PAGE 20 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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More money goes back COMMUNITY grants keep coming from Michael Lorenz’s chain of IGA supermarkets. Mr Lorenz handed out another $8000 at his Leongatha IGA supermarket last Thursday. Leongatha Little Athletics received $5000 to enable them to buy electronic timing equipment for the club. Committee members Bev and Geoff Coulter were thrilled to accept the much needed ﬁnds on behalf of their growing club. “This will make it so much easier to

time the children,” Bev said. The club has grown to have around 200 children involved since re-forming in the mid nineties. The Coulters have remained involved and committed, even though their own children have grown into adults. South Coast Christian College received $3000 to put towards an integrated chicken coop and vegetable patch. The children are excited by the plans and the opportunity that has been provided by the grant. Hannah Stone thanked Mr Lorenz on behalf of all the students who will beneﬁt from the new garden facility.

Patch made possible: Hannah Stone, Larissa Cook, Abi Boucher and Luke Malherbe with Michael Lorenz.

Flag to fly daily THE Aboriginal ﬂag will be hoisted every morning alongside the Australian national ﬂag at Leongatha Primary School. Staff, students and parents welcomed the ceremony, which included a didgeridoo performance by Grade 4 student Glenno Nicklen.

Glenno was joined on stage by about 20 of his friends who used clap sticks to support him. John Murray, Koori engagement ofﬁcer with the Department of Education, spoke to the students to give them an understanding of what was happening. He was with Aboriginal elder Deidre Rose, who welcomed the

school congregation to the Kurnai people’s land. This will become a permanent ﬁxture for the Leongatha Primary school assemblies. Two other guests arrived, with Sonia Weston and Steve Parker coming up to join in, telling their stories before Steve and Glenno played their didgeridoos together.

Timing’s right: Bev and Geoff Coulter receive a Leongatha Little Athletics grant from Michael Lorenz.

Still blooming at 90 DUMBALK identity Moore has shared her ful garden and ﬂower ing skills with many community.

Gwen beautiarrangin the

It was ﬁtting therefore, that friends and relatives came out in force to help her celebrate her 90th birthday. Her son Bill came from Brisbane, her daughter Rilla from Sydney. Gwen’s other son Glen lives overseas, but his daughters Alice and Lydia attended, travelling all the way from England. A new great grandchild Finn was there too. A number of people who spoke during the birthday celebration included Bev Hanley, who described the guest of honour as “a wonderful friend”. Gwen was the eighth of ten children born to Alma and Jack Trease of Dumbalk North, a family name synonymous with both the historic and current development of South Gippsland. When Gwen and Reg Moore wanted to marry, her parents said the couple would have to wait because two of Gwen’s sisters had already married that year. But Gwen and Reg won out, starting

their life at Dumbalk East. They moved to Miller Street Dumbalk in 1960, where Gwen established a glorious garden. Such was her way with plants they grew with ease and profusion. Her talent for flower arranging was unsurpassed, with stunning creations for parties and weddings, often in the Dumbalk Hall. Some vases held displays that were five feet high. Gwen has retired from flower arranging now and from gardening too, having moved into Strzelecki House in Mirboo North. She was always generous with her lovely garden and about this time last year, opened it to the public to help raise money for the Dumbalk CFA. A glorious pink rhododendron at the front of the driveway and a bright circle of pansies and nemesias in the front lawn enticed visitors to the amazing array of colour at the back of her home. Orchids, cinerarias, bluebells, purple iris and 150 roses were set off by a weeping cherry, tall silver birch and burgundy maple. Her comment at the time “I’m greedy for flowers,” was particularly apt.

Respect: Aboriginal people John Murray, Deidre Rose, Sonia Weston and Steve Parker were joined on stage by Leongatha Primary School children and principal Rob Higgins. In the middle stands Glenno Nicklen, who performed on the didgeridoo.

Help health service GIPPSLAND Southern Health Service will participate in the Michael’s Supa IGA Community Day this Thursday, October 21 at the Korumburra and Leongatha IGA stores. The service invites people to visit the information stand between 10.30am and 4pm on Thursday to ﬁnd out how they can help buy new theatre equipment by donating their IGA Community Awards to the local health service. GSHS staff and volunteers will be present to answer

questions and talk about how people can help to improve the health service. There will be fun give-aways, a gift for those who donate and a friendly smile for everyone who visits. GSHS board president David Harvey congratulated Michael’s Supa IGA on its community rewards program and encouraged community members to support their local health service. “Please consider donating your IGA Community Rewards to the Gippsland Southern Health Service and help us to purchase new theatre equipment,” he said.

Birthday girl: Gwen Moore with her son Bill, daughter Rilla and granddaughters Alice and Lydia who came out from England for her 90th birthday.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 23

PAGE 24 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

On way: bike riders make their way into Leongatha.

Escort: the police guide the ﬁrst of the riders through Leongatha.

Bikes come to town MOTORCYCLE fans turned out to watch 800 motorbike riders zoom through South Gippsland last Thursday, as part of the annual Barry Sheene Memorial Ride. The event honours the late British racing veteran and travels from Bairnsdale to the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix track at Phillip Island. The convoy travelled to Morwell, then through Mirboo North, Leongatha, Inverloch, Wonthaggi and ﬁnally on to the Island.

Coast wedding MAJELLA Brislin and Geoff Webster married on the Gold Coast, Queensland, on September 12. Majella is the youngest daughter of Kevin and Karilyn Brislin of Mount Eccles and Geoff, son of Gordon and Catherine Webster of Port Macquarie, New South Wales. The ceremony and reception was held on the Gold Coast at The Colonial Golf Club. Majella looked radiant in her Maggie Sottero strapless dupion silk ﬁtted A-line gown with Swarovski crystals accenting the corseted back. Majella’s attendants, three of her sisters and the groom’s sister, wore pewter coloured satin full length dresses whilst Geoff and his groomsmen wore kilts in recognition of his Scottish heritage. The couple spent their honeymoon skiing in Queenstown, New Zealand and have made their home at Robina on the Gold Coast.

Viewing platform: Charlotte, nearly three, and Ian Brooks used the boot of the car for comfort so that Charlotte could wave her ﬂag at the bikes riding past in McCartin Street, Leongatha.

Kids think of others

LEONGATHA Primary School is aiming to ﬁll 50 boxes with gifts for needy children in other nations this year.

Last year they collected 34 boxes of goodies. The project is a good way to remind youngsters that though most people in Leongatha enjoy plenty of material blessings, others across the world are less fortunate. When The Star visited last week the classroom was a hive of activity as students ﬁlled shoeboxes with gifts. The children went around collecting items from tables in the room with toys, pencils, clothes, hygienic products and stuffed animals that had been brought to the school. The project is run across the nation by Samaritans Purse. Boxes collected in South Gippsland are taken to the Assembly of God church in Korumburra for processing.

Gifts of hope: Lachlan, Brittany, Sam and Codie with presents for needy children.

Riding for mental illness THREE Gippsland long distance cyclists will ride almost a thousand kilometres from this week to raise awareness of mental illness.

Exchanged vows: Majella Brislin and Geoff Webster.

Lance Hunt, Iain Fraser and Rob Mayman will set out on Friday for a round trip from Sale through South Gippsland to Warragul, east across the region to Orbost and back to Sale. They will be in Foster, Leongatha and Korumburra this weekend. The three veterans of racing and event cycling have more than 100 years and hundreds of thousands of kilometres of

combined riding experience. The ride will help raise money and emphasise the need for supported accommodation for people with a mental illness. Lance Hunt is a former racing cyclist and organiser of the LG cycling group in Sale. He had his own brush with depression after a serious car accident and months in a crown brace with a broken neck. Seeing the number of friends and acquaintances affected by similar mental illness inspired Lance to organise the ride as a way of increasing the support for sufferers.

The cross-Gippsland ride is supported by the Mental Health advocacy group, Barrier Breakers. Barrier Breakers’ ﬁgures show about 50,000 people in Gippsland suffer from some sort of mental illness and about 4000 of those are classiﬁed severe cases. While the population of Gippsland has increased dramatically since the 1960s, the region has 200 fewer beds available for people with mental illness. There are fewer than 100 fully supported accommodation units in Gippsland.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 25

Learning at the beach PREP students from Tarwin Valley Primary School at Meeniyan hit the sea shore last week.

They have been learning about the beach, so they travelled down to Inverloch in search of sand and creatures that live there. As part of the trip they visited the Bunurong Environmental Centre’s Shell Museum to ask questions of staff.

But the day was not just fun and games; the experience is linked to the students’ development. “It’s shown that prior knowledge helps children learn to read, and developing an interest does as well,” said teacher Kath Gilbert. The excursion also proved as a great ﬁrst day for Lily, who started at the school that day.

Found one: Belinda and Zara had a successful day, ﬁnding a few starﬁsh.

Time out: after a busy day of questioning and searching Lily, Lucas and Brielle relax on the play equipment.

Loch in running for glory LOCH Primary School has been recognised for offering fun, safe and inclusive sports activities to children through the Australian Sports Commission’s Active Afterschool Communities (AASC) program. Loch Primary School is now in the running for the 2010 Victorian Super Site Award. Children have had the opportunity to get active after school by trying out activities including gymnastics, tennis, cricket, aerobics and dance in 2010. Principal Greg Bull is impressed. “We’re really proud of the difference the AASC program is making. Instead of sitting around watching TV or playing

computer games after school, the children are getting outside and active,” he said. “Because it’s fun and non-competitive, even the most inactive kids are joining in and developing more healthy habits. “It’s great to be recognised for our success in delivering this program, but the biggest reward is watching the kids have a go at different activities, working with other kids and developing their skills and self conﬁdence.” McMillan MP Russell Broadbent presented the nomination to principal, Greg Bull and AASC school co-ordinator Lyndall Standish. “Any project that encourages children to pursue healthy and active lives is one that should be encouraged,” he said. “It is hopefully setting

No track opening THE Welshpool to Port Welshpool walking track has been finished for four months and it now appears unlikely there will be an official opening. Welshpool and District Advisory Group member Kerry Pinzone said the group had wanted an official opening. “We don’t really care, and it’s open for use and it will probably get a lot of use over the holidays,” she said. The track begins in the park in Welshpool and goes all the way to Port Welshpool. Ms Pinzone said many people were accessing the golf club and sports stadium from the track. “There was always a safety issue for the kids and now they can get down to the stadium without their parents having to drive them,” she said. Friends of the walk are currently being sought to take some responsibility for maintenance of the track. Ms Pinzone said the South Gippsland Shire Council will set up a maintenance plan for the track. A development plan for the area had determined that a walking track was a priority.

Batter up: Tane takes a big swing before hitting the ball. up habits that will last a lifetime. “Special mention must be made of the dedication of Lyndall Standish whose work in promoting the program and providing an opportunity for up and coming young coaches to have a go has been enormous.” Without the AASC program, more than 80 per cent of participating children would not take part in physical activity after school.

Meals roster (Leongatha) Mary MacKillop College, Leongatha Secondary College, SG Specialist School (Oct 25, 27, 28, 29) and National Bank (Tues 26) will be responsible for the delivery of meals on wheels, the week beginning October 25, 2010.

AASC regional coordinator Mark Lindsay said the program has strengthened relationships between the school and local sporting clubs. “More children and their families are aware of the beneﬁts of getting involved and many children have continued their sport outside the AASC program,” he said. The school is competing for the award against other schools and afterschool care centres. The

winning site will be announced in October and will receive a trophy and a $500 voucher for sporting equipment. The AASC program is a free Australian Government initiative delivered nationally by the Australian Sports Commission. It provides primary school children with the opportunity to experience more than 70 different sports and up to 20 other structured physical activities.

PAGE 26 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Family’s Kenya care mission By Marli Draper WITH the support of family, friends and folk who care, George Hendry is continuing to help create a better world.

Recently returned from Africa, the Nyora man has built three classrooms at an orphanage in Kager in western Kenya. A group of nine volunteers including Inverloch’s Michael Malone, Nyora residents Andrea Levey and Dean Hislop along with Stevie Guilmartin of Newhaven, lived and worked in the orphanage during the four weeks they helped build a dream. Since losing their precious boy Bryn, the Hendry family has poured their passion into projects that help make a difference. This is the fourth school they have built to honour Bryn’s young life.

There was no running water or electricity where the group stayed. “People get used to it pretty quickly,” George said. Michael turned their sleeping space into a carpentry workshop and built almost all the furniture for the dining room of the orphanage. HIV has deprived many of the orphans of their family. Unrest has torn many parts of Africa apart and their struggle is something so few Australians understand. During his recent trip, George also ventured to Sudan and secured a block of land in the middle of Bortown where he will help the Baai-Bor women develop a school and centre to support girls and women. Gaining the ground on which to build the facility shows George’s skill in making things happen. “I’m ﬁnding my way,” he

said modestly. His grass roots formula is proving an efﬁcient and effective approach. Schools and centres are set up to be self sustaining so the people can achieve their potential. Seeing his support make such a difference to people’s lives is a real reward. “I think I am the richest bloke in Australia, the experiences I’ve had,” George said. As he turns his attention toward the planned secondary school in PreyVeng province, Cambodia, he gains great comfort in connecting need and help. Gratefully, he is always accepting of any assistance offered, be it practical or monetary. So many service clubs, schools, local businesses and people have supported his work in one way or other. What George Hendry has been building is more than buildings.

School success: Michael Malone, Dean Hislop, Stevie Guilmartin, Andrea Levey and George Hendry celebrate with the Kager children.

Pool opens already TOORA Swimming Pool is open for another season of fun, exercise and rehabilitation.

Carers’ break: Interchange is ensuring carers have some personal time.

Carers, take time out ARE you the parent or primary carer of a child or young person who has a disability? Interchange Central Gippsland Inc. is running a series of enjoyable and interactive sessions on “Looking After Yourself” once a month in Leongatha. The workshops are available to join as a “one off” or as an ongoing participant and the next topic is “Women’s/ Men’s Health and the Services of Gippsland Women’s Health” to be held on Wednesday, October 27. This session will be presented by Alma Reis from Gippsland Women’s Health Service who has a strong reputation for delivering fun and highly interactive sessions that are both informative and enjoyable.

All workshops are held at Leongatha Community House from 10am to 2pm. Morning tea and lunch is provided and the workshops are free. The group is very friendly and welcoming. If you would like to attend this workshop, or further carer self care sessions, contact Heidi at Interchange in Newborough on 5127 7979 or Cathy at the Leongatha ofﬁce on 5662 0925. The remaining workshop for the year is on October 24 and will be “Life Skills and Assertiveness” again with Alma Reis. There are three more workshops coming next year. Feel free to ask for more information about upcoming topics.

New blue shade roofs have been installed on the baby and learners pools, and a new boiler will keep water warmer. Megan Ingleﬁnger leads a new rehabilitation session while aerobics and swimming lessons have returned. Ernie and Carol Bennett are back at the pool for their 11th season as managers. “The people that come through the door of the pool are so nice. It’s what makes the community,”

Ernie said. The couple lives in Buffalo and milks cows at Yanakie during the winter. The pool reopened on September 29 and regular patrons are already enjoying their daily dips. “They like the new roof structure and the water is nice and consistent and warm because we have an extra boiler and backup,” Ernie said. “The water is 30.5 degrees for water aerobics and swimming lessons. Most pools are only about 27 or 29 degrees. “You have to have it warmer for rehab, women and little children.” The new boiler also means sessions will not need to be cancelled

due to cooler water. Ernie said there had been many upgrades to the pool over the years. “We just keep adding to it. We have plans for more. They want to introduce a water park, a bigger entertainment area and bigger barbecue,” he said. The water park could include squirt guns, rainbow spirals and mushrooms of water. Experts have already investigated the possibility and now the focus is on securing funding. The Bennetts are thankful to the South Gippsland Shire Council and in particular Alister Fixter as well as the pool’s volunteer committee.

New protection: Toora pool manager Ernie Bennett in front of new blue roofs for the baby and learners pools.

Nursery chance THE Welshpool Transaction Centre could have a new nursery next door soon. It comes as the centre has a busy spring with increased use of banking and Centrelink services. The Social Traders will be working to strengthen the transaction centre and op shop over the next 18 months. As part of this project, the centre’s Kerry Pinzone said they were hoping to put a garden nursery between the op shop and transaction centre. Welshpool district residents are taking advantage of the convenience of banking services in the town. Ms Pinzone said residents like to support the business and avoid bank fees. Centrelink is also busy, with people making use of the 11am to 4pm opening hours. Computer courses are being run at the

centre thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. Elderly people are the major users of the course, with many attending two or three classes as the information does not sink in the ﬁrst time. Overcoming fears associated with the internet is an important part of the courses. The class members want to learn about computers so they can communicate with families via email. Gaining the skills to shop online is another popular aspect of the course. The op shop is also seeing more foot trafﬁc and extra volunteers have been provided through the Work for the Dole program.

Using local services: op shop volunteer Roseanne Whittle and shopper Tracey Taylor at computers in the transaction centre.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 27

Macalister Prestige Homes has recently won its ﬁfth Master Builders (of Victoria) Award for the 2010 period, this time picking up ‘Best Custom Home under $300,000’ for its home at Lake Tyers. See story on page 30.

PAGE 28 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Opportunity opens in Korumburra T

HIS home offers an excellent opportunity for an investor or ﬁrst home buyer to secure a property in the quickly rising housing market of Korumburra. The home is currently tenanted to excellent tenants until February, at this point the purchaser can choose to perhaps move in themselves or re-lease the property. Set on a corner block, the house holds a commanding spot overlooking Korumburra hills and township. It offers three spacious bedrooms, each with built in robes, which have each had new carpet installed recently. The bathroom is functional but dated. The lounge is located at the front of the home and is also a good size. Heating and cooling consists of a reverse cycle

split system and a gas (bottled) heater. The lounge has also had new carpet laid recently. Adjoining the lounge the formal dining room would accommodate a good sized table and is central to both the lounge and kitchen. There is a spacious kitchen and meals area with excellent storage space, offering an electric oven and dishwasher. A lot of the home has also been recently repainted including some feature walls, the laundry is an excellent size with extra storage cupboards and includes a second toilet. There is an undercover patio area at the rear of the home. The block is a huge 1261 square metres and has access from the back, has a single lock-up garage and established gardens.

At a glance Location: 1 Bena Road, Korumburra. Price: $229, 000. Agent: Elders. Contact: Don Olden 0417 805 312 or Zel Svenson 0438 636 290.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 29

PAGE 30 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Top award for Macalister Homes M

ACALISTER Prestige Homes has recently won its ﬁfth Master Builders (of Victoria) Award for the 2010 period, this time picking up ‘Best Custom Home under $300,000’ for its home at Lake Tyers.

They have also won four South East awards this year, from best display under $200,000 to best display home $400,000 to $500,000, showing they truly do cater for all budgets and lifestyles. Macalister Homes has shown their quality competes with all other builders, Victoria wide. They have been winning multiple awards and satisfying their clients in Victoria’s South East for over a decade now; in fact they have won 27 awards in the last ﬁve years alone. They are known as Regional and Provincial Victoria’s ‘local builder’, and when you take into account they use local tradespeople and suppliers wherever possible, as well as employ locals within the community, you can understand why. With extensive inclusions and catering for both standard and custom plans, all their

homes are built to suit the modern relaxed lifestyle. Building throughout the South East Region, from Berwick to Omeo, and having recently expanded to the Ballarat region, they are focused on building quality homes, without compromising on their main core value, providing clients a great home with great customer service along the way. The appeal of their homes is broad. From the fresh coastal facades to the lovely lines of their skillion roof designs, their building quality is what it is all about. The gorgeous display home, the ‘Tarago 28’, is located at 3 Headland Way in Inverloch, off Ullathornes Road. The company also has a home client selection centre open in Traralgon where customers can choose from the range of ﬁnishes and features that come with their new home, turning the experience from ‘a home’ to ‘your home’. To get a feel for what they offer, have a look at one of their displays or ring their freecall number, 1800 443 116 for more information. Illustrations on this page are from the award winning ‘Lake Tyers’ custom home.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 31

Prom Country Prom Country

Presents

Opportunity at Auction Could this be your opportunity to enter the property market in Mirboo North? Check out 14 Balding Street & get prepared - have your ﬁnance sorted, check you’re comfortable with the structure and other building aspects, & then put your hand up on Auction Day! The 3 bedroom home has a north facing aspect, kitchen, meals plus dining room & lounge, & outside, a long driveway, double garage, well designed gardens, paved pathways & covered pergola. This could be it! AUCTION Saturday 13th November @ 11am Address 14 Balding Street, MIRBOO NORTH N AY PE D O SUN IS TH

Town and Country - The House, The Shed, and The Position - 2.5 Acres The elusive combination of country charm, space, beautiful old trees and a thoroughly modern interior is to be found here at the edge of Mirboo North’s township in the Wells Road precinct. The attractive brick homestead, with verandas to 2 sides, features a light ﬁlled, family friendly ﬂoorplan with 3 bedrooms, study, huge hostess kitchen, 2 separate living areas and 2 modern bathrooms. Purpose built for school buses, the shed is huge, high, and easily accessed via a circular drive.

promcountryre.com.au Terms and conditions apply, competition runs from October 1 - 31 2010, visit www.firstnational.com.au/win for details Permit No.: NSW LTPS/10/7262 VIC 10/2774 SA T10/1852 ACT TP10/3374

INSPECT Sunday @ 1.00 - 1.30pm Address 55 Balook Street, MIRBOO NORTH

$450,000 - $485,000

Y N DA PE R O ATU S IS

N AY PE D O SUN IS TH

Rustic Contemporary – On 40 Acres

Ritchie Rich

An unapologetic appreciation for classy modern inclusions blends with an earthy love of timbers, trees and sky, resulting in an impeccably appointed, elegantly rustic, country retreat. Features modern, light filled living spaces, stunning views, a meticulous hostess kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 studies, and 2 bathrooms. New shedding, undercover parking, water storage, fenced paddocks and a 40 acre mix of pasture and timbers, round off this substantial rural property, filled with benefits.

Here’s a golden opportunity to capitalize on 2 key property ingredients - Location and Originality. Ritchie Street is a highly desired prime position, just the shortest of strolls to Leongatha shops and facilities, and sure to continue to be a valued investment area. The home is absolutely original & you’ll appreciate the period façade, high ceilings, and large allotment with prized rear-access, and if you’re prepared for a full renovation, this is ripe for your investment future.

INSPECT Sunday @ 1.00 - 1.30pm Address 970 Boolarra-Mirboo North Road, MIRBOO NORTH

INSPECT Saturday @ 11.00 - 11.30am Address 5 Ritchie Street, LEONGATHA

$490,000 - $540,000

$200,000 - $220,000

Y N DA PE R O ATU S IS

N AY PE D O SUN IS TH

Selling Properties

24/7 New to the Market – Peace-maker on an Acre

Cottage Style – Town Convenience

In peaceful & private surrounds with ﬂowing lawns & mature gardens, this is a “property surprise package”. Neat as a pin, the compact home has been enhanced so the ﬂoor plan incorporates 3 bedrooms + hobby room, lounge & dining plus separate family / sunroom, a remodeled kitchen, modern bathroom & upgraded laundry - it’s gorgeous! Outdoors, a cabana & timber entertaining deck, a partially renovated cabin, good shedding, rural outlooks, and all with the ideal northern aspect.

Love the convenience of Leongatha but don’t want that “hemmed in” feeling? The solution could be in this really cute, three bedroom home in a quiet laneway, easy walking distance to Leongatha’s CBD. Federation-inspired character complements modern comforts resulting in a very liveable home on a 650sqm (approx) level block. Featuring 2 very spacious living zones, 2 bathrooms, fully ﬁtted kitchen with 5 burner range, carport and garden shed. Lots of inclusions, excellent value.

INSPECT Sunday @ 12.00 - 12.30pm Address 49 Wells Road, MIRBOO NORTH

INSPECT Saturday @ 12.00 - 12.30pm Address 3 Leslie Court, LEONGATHA

$285,000 - $315,000

$265,000 - $285,000

allen bartlett 0417 274 624

N AY PE D O SUN S HI

kaz hughes 0417 516 998

Opposite Rail Trail 1200sqm

Take a Good, Clean Bath

Stunning Coastal Hideaway - 2 Plus Acres

Part of a charming row of originals and renovations. The shops and eateries are a stroll away. Three bedrooms, sunny north facing lounge, country-style kitchen, huge shed, rain water tank, and fruit trees. INSPECT By Appointment Address 135 Whitelaw Street, MEENIYAN $240,000 - $260,000

Opposite parkland & pool, & a short stroll to shops & schools, this 3 bedroom home is as neat-as-a-pin. Timber ﬂoors, light-ﬁlled open plan living & modern kitchen, covered outdoor zone, carport & garage. INSPECT By Appointment Address 20 Baths Road, MIRBOO NORTH $230,000 - $255,000

“Tree change” or “Sea change”? What about morning views of the hills and sea views over lunch? Just four years young, this stunning home has been designed to enjoy its idyllic surrounds. Featuring blue gum ﬂoors, soaring timber-lined ceilings, and oodles of comfort-glazing, and comprising spacious open plan living zones full of views, 3 bedrooms,study, 2 bathrooms and full length balcony. Original dairy/workshop, lockup garage, circular drive, country garden, 10 mins to Foster.

5664 0224

INSPECT Sunday @ 1.00 - 1.30pm Address 1014 Ameys Track, FOSTER NORTH

93 Whitelaw Street, Meeniyan 84 Ridgway, Mirboo North promcountryre.com.au

lisa williams 0438 133 385

$460,000 - $495,000

5668 1660

PAGE 32 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Opposite rail trail on a quarter acre plus M

EENIYAN - the heart of South Gippsland and home to the famous Meeniyan Hall where the Lyrebird Arts Council hosts regular, fantastic music events. Home to the Meeniyan Art Gallery, Moo’s and Pause cafe/restaurants, home to the Great Southern Rail Trail, and all less than 30 minutes drive to the water delights of Inverloch, Wilsons Prom, Waratah Bay and Foster. Become a part of this charming, eclectic row of originals and renovations in the heart of Meeniyan, where the rail trail is right across the road

and Meeniyan town centre is just a stroll down the street. This neat three bedroom brick sweetie, on a near-1200sqm level block features a sunny north facing lounge and big country-style kitchen with room for the family table. Big picture windows, plenty of parking space out front and at rear, huge shed with extra height door, large rainwater tank, and fruit trees. Make this your Meeniyan getaway base, where you and your friends can escape the weekday city bustle, or your permanent country home. It is an easy commute to Leongatha, Wonthaggi and Mirboo North.

First home buyers worse off

Latest news from the REIV First home buyers in Victoria are now worse off than they were 10 years ago. In 2000 the median price of an existing house in Melbourne was $242,128 and a typical ﬁrst home buyer was able to access a grant of $7000 to assist with the purchase. This equated to 2.9 per cent of the purchase price. An average ﬁrst home buyer in 2010 faces a median house price of $559,000; while they are still able to access a $7000 grant, it now equates to just 1.3 per cent of the pur-

chase price. At the same time, stamp duty has also increased, the result of which is that the grant is effectively reduced to a small down-payment on the state government taxation incurred on the purchase. The fact is that the Victorian Government’s level of taxation on each house purchase has more than doubled in dollar terms, while the assistance has not. Instead, the state has chosen to provide greater assistance for the minority of ﬁrst home buyers purchasing a new home. This assistance is welcome; it should remain in

place but not be confined to those purchasing a new home. A new policy, modelled on the approach of a majority of states and territories, should be adopted, whereby all first home buyers are offered a 100 per cent discount on stamp duty. This is the case in Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Not only do most first home buyers receive a 100 per cent discount on stamp duty but they also receive the grant. If applied in Victoria, first home buyers would not need 104 per cent of the purchase price to buy a home, rather 99 per cent. No longer would the grant be a stamp duty subsidy.

At a glance Location: 135 Whitelaw Street, Meeniyan. Price: $240,000 - $260,000. Agent: First National Prom Country. Contact: Kaz Hughes 0417 516 998.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 33

PAGE 34 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Like manna from heaven I

N the Old Testament, the Israelites lived in the wilderness for 40 years eating manna, which God supplied daily from heaven. You’ll give thanks daily when you spend the next 40 years waking up each morning in this ‘divine’ property. With sunlight streaming in through the bay windows, this north facing brick veneer home is situated to make the most of its 2.8 acre (1 ha) surrounds. Only six years old and immaculately maintained and offering three to four bedrooms, large open plan kitchen/dining/

lounge leading out onto a large covered patio area. A spacious light-filled master bedroom comes complete with a full en suite and an adjoining parents retreat. Reverse cycle air conditioning, ducted vacuum, induction cooktop, and the list goes on... In addition to a double garage under the roofline of the house, there is also a three bay - 8m x 10.5m Colorbond shed with concrete floor and power. If you’d like to secure your own “Slice of Heaven”, ring Alan, Andrew or Peter at Alex Scott’s today and see for yourself just how good country living can be.

At a glance Location: 15 Manna Court, Koonwarra Price: $650,000 Agent: Alex Scott & Staff, Leongatha. Contact: 5662 0922.

Home finished to perfection T

HIS home at 68 – 70 Turner Street has been admired throughout its recent transformation and its present owners have completed a makeover that won’t disappoint.

At a glance Location: 68-70 Turner Street, Leongatha Price: $495,000 - $535,000 Agent: Stockdale and Leggo, Leongatha Contact: 5662 5800 Inspect: Sunday, October 24 12:00- 12:30pm

The property is open for inspection this Sunday from 12 noon until 12.30pm. Teeming with space and storage, the home is ideal for families, featuring five bedrooms, 33 squares of living, 10ft ceilings as well as being freshly painted, re-wired and replumbed. With restored polished boards and new furnishings throughout, all the hard work has already been done. Downstairs boasts an elegant staircase and foyer with the spacious 11m x 5m living area branching off from the formal entrance. This is a gracious room with large windows for natural light, polished floorboards and a sizeable dining area in addition to the living space. The cook in the family will enjoy the renovated kitchen with all new stainless steel appliances, caterer’s walk-in pantry plus another meals area with sliding doors leading to the outdoor entertaining area. There are two bedrooms downstairs, with the master bedroom comprising a huge walk-in robe plus a wall of cupboards and access to the stylish master bathroom as a semi-ensuite. A separate shower room and toilet also services these bedrooms. Upstairs can be utilised as either a teenager’s haven or parent’s retreat, with three bedrooms, en suite and open plan living area. A study nook above the staircase also provides a handy space for a computer or desk. There are three reverse cycle air conditioners to service the size of the home and ducted gas heating as an alternative. The home is situated on a private double block with a double carport and large garage and workshop, and a delightful gazebo and deck make accommodating guests and parties a breeze. There are too many features to list, come and see this magnificent home for yourself.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 35

Irish honour for Peter FISH CREEK was well represented at the recent Lalor clan meeting in Abbeyleix, Ireland.

There was also a strong Australian inﬂuence during the event. Peter Lalor Philp, his wife Nain from Fish Creek and son Daniel joined members of the Lalor clan from around the world for a weekend of celebration and history. The key event of the weekend was the clan banquet during which Nain was invited to read Henry Lawson’s famous poem, Eureka that tells the story of the Ballarat uprising in 1854 and was written by Lawson as a tribute to Peter Lalor. Peter said the Lawson poem was the highlight of the night. The powerful words written and the passion given to those words in the reading, silenced the room. At its conclusion there was applause then the host of the night commented: “It was as though I was at the stockade myself,” he said. On the same night two honours

were given to Peter. “Firstly, I was nominated for the position of the Lalor clan chieftain. It was a close election. While it would have been a great honour to bring the title of clan chieftain back to Australia, I was glad that Eamon Lalor from Garryhill, Carlow, was successfully elected because he will be able to carry out this important role better than myself,” he said. “The second honour given to me was to be asked to present the ‘Furrier Daughter from Dublin’ that records the humble yet remarkable life in Australia of a wonderful woman, Eileen Mary Lalor, my grandmother. “It was a very moving time for me to present this story on Irish soil, the country she loved so much. “It was a tribute not only to my grandmother, but all women present at the clan meeting, for the contribution that they have made in their own way.” During their visit to Ireland, Nain, Peter and Daniel visited the capital of County Laois, Port Laois

to inspect a recently erected monument to Peter’s great great grand uncle James Fintan Lalor, who was one of the Irish heroes during the great famine and Ireland’s struggle for independence from Britain. “Part of this fine sculpture displays a plaque recognising James Fintan’s brother, Peter Lalor, and the diggers at Ballarat who fought in the Eureka Stockade,” he said. “There is a strong Irish interest in the Eureka Stockade because it is recognised as a very significant struggle for democracy at the same time as the people of Ireland were fighting for their emancipation and basic human rights.” The Philps also spent time at the giant fortress at the Rock of Dunamaise, overlooking Port Laois where the Lalors and six other prominent Irish families of Laois fought Oliver Cromwell’s army. Later they travelled to England to visit Nain’s family in Yorkshire and to Fife in Scotland where the Philp family lived before migrating to Australia in the 1850s.

Fashions excitement THE ladies of the Inverloch CWA are looking forward to Blumes Fashion Show on November 11, at the Anglican Hall. At the group’s recent meeting, president Joyce Ingle opened the meeting with a warm welcome to all members, the national anthem was sung and the Collect was read. The sausage sizzle held at Marj White’s home was a great success. Future plans for a Mystery trip were discussed. All committee members handed in their ofﬁcial badges ready for the annual general meeting in the af-

ternoon and nominations were put forward ready for the meeting after lunch. Group secretary Margaret Hyde and group president Helen Barrow attended the meeting. The national anthem was sung and the Collect read. The new committee was elected: president Joyce Ingle, vice president Dorothy Riddiford, secretary Heather Scott, treasurer Wendy McBernie, market stall Pat Griggs, craft leader Pat Griggs, and Gwen Rees is tea lady and competitions. The day closed with the usual afternoon tea with delicious cakes and slices, and the motto.

Visiting past: Daniel and Peter Lalor Philp at the newly erected sculpture of James Fintan Lalor in Port Laois, Ireland.

EMILY Jaspa Kelsall was born at Bass Coast Regional Health on September 30 to Kate and David Kelsall of Rhyll. Emily is a new sister for Chelsea, aged 10 and Jessica, six.

AVA Maree Carew was born at Bass Coast Regional Health on September 29 to Montana and John Carew of Dalyston. Ava is a sister for Loan, 17 months.

IZABELLA Paige Vine was born on October 11 at Leongatha Memorial Hospital. She is the second daughter for Paul and Gemma of Leongatha and a baby sister for Sophi-Lea, aged two.

ADAM Christian Thomas Calder was born at Bass Coast Regional Health on October 2 to Jessica Dell and Troy Calder of Wonthaggi.

AVA Grace Walder was born at Leongatha Memorial Hospital on September 22. Ava is a beautiful daughter for Lizzy and Charlie and a little sister for Mitch, Olivia, Abbie, Molly and Jasper (in heaven).

ALYSSA Jade Conn was born at Bass Coast Regional Health on October 2 to Krystle Jarvie and Justin Conn of Wonthaggi. Alyssa is a new sister for Lockie, aged three.

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“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 37

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Dogs ready to race SHELLEY Field and her dog Red will be among the competitors in the $1500 top dog challenge at Welshpool this weekend. She is among the dog owners coming from Tasmania, New South Wales and across Victoria to compete in the 14th state dog championships. “It’s good to see other dogs and how well people have trained them,” Shelly said. About 1500 people are expected to come on the Saturday and Sunday to see 15 events including dog races, high jump and puppy tests. Aussie dog idol will return as well. Last year it attracted tricks, soccer stars,

singing and plenty of begging to the judges. The top dog challenge is the culminating event. Championships host and Beloka Kelpies owner Paul Macphail said they were looking for the dog which farmers would want to take home to get the cows in. Dogs will be tested for their attentiveness to commands and ability to ﬁne tune their response to the animals. They need to be strong with cattle, but sensitive to ducks. “There are some really good kelpies and border collies competing this year, so the standard will be high,” Paul said. “Kelpies have taken it out 90 per cent of the time, but border collies have won it a couple of times.”

The final of the top dog challenge will be at about 1pm on Sunday, but there will be lots of working dog action from 10am to 4pm both days. On the Saturday see the open cattle and ducks, novice sheep, encourage sheep, high jump, dog race heats, puppies and kids events. On Sunday watch the open cattle and sheep finals, novice ducks, city slickers, Aussie dog idol, top dog challenge final and dog race final. A local group will cater, ensuring money goes back into the community. At night there will be a bonfire and music. People can bring dogs as long as they are on leads and controlled. For more information visit www. belokakelpies.com

Ready to compete: Shelley Field and her dog Red will take the top dog challenge.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 39

Take the challenge SOUTH Gippsland SPLASH in Leongatha is encouraging families to be healthier and more active by offering 15 free passes to all families who register for the Premier’s Active Families Challenge. The challenge is run by the Victorian Government as part of its Go for your life initiative, and encourages Victorian families to do 30 minutes of physical activity for 30 days between October 2 and November 13, paving the way for families to take the ﬁrst steps towards a healthier lifestyle. SPLASH YMCA manager,

Emma Dowling, said she was looking forward to helping local families complete the challenge. “One of the biggest barriers to a healthy lifestyle is the ability to be active as a family,” she said. “The challenge is a great time for parents to get motivated by their children to take the challenge and be active for 30 minutes.” Former Collingwood captain and assistant coach of the 2010 AFL Premiers, Nathan Buckley, said regular physical activity was an important part of his family’s routine and he looked forward to taking the challenge.

“The Premier’s Active Families Challenge is a great way to not only get active, but spend time with your family and just have fun,” he said. The Premier’s Active Families Challenge is free and open to all Victorians. All registered families will receive a free 15 visit family pass to attend YMCA centres across Victoria, a 15 per cent discount at Rebel Sport stores, as well as one free child zoo pass. Registrations for the challenge will close on October 15. For more information or to register go to www. goforyourlife.vic.gov.au or call 1300 73 98 99.

Physical beneﬁts: Nathan Buckley is urging South Gippsland families to get active.

From pages past

Milpara Community House News Level 1 Cross Cut Chainsaw Course will be held on Wednesday, October 27. This course will cover the essential aspects of chainsaw operation and maintenance, it will also cover relevant legislation and OH and S issues. Bookings are essential. ****** Computers Beyond Basics courses will commence on Thursday, October 21. These cover Email and Internet Beyond Basics, File Management Beyond Basics and Computers Beyond Basics. After completion of these you will understand how to make safe internet

transactions, how to zip files, save and send photos, virus checks, how to create, find, save and move files and folders, what is and how to right click your mouse, computer maintenance, desktop icons, printing tips and hints. Call Sandra or Belinda at Milpara Community House to find out if you qualify for a subsidy 5655 2524. ****** Gill Heal, local playwright, will launch the Creative Writers Class book The Thursday Club on Saturday, November 6 from 2pm to 4pm at the Korumburra Community Meeting Room, with book

sales and signing available on the day. Members of the public are welcome to attend, RSVP to Milpara Community House on 5655 2524. ****** We are running our popular Telstra Connected Seniors workshops again this term commencing on Thursday, October 21 at Milpara Community House, 21 Shellcott’s Road, Korumburra. If you are over 60 and want to learn more about mobile telephones, computers and the internet these workshops are for you! Limited places available - bookings are essential. Please call

Sandra or Belinda on 5655 2524. ****** Are you interested in ﬁnding out how to research your family tree? We are running an Introduction to Family History class over ﬁve Saturdays commencing on November 6. This course will give you the basic skills required to research your family tree, how to gather and record information, use genealogy software, internet research, record oral history and get help where needed. To be held at Milpara Community House, 21 Shellcott’s Road, Korumburra, bookings essential.

Historical snippets from The Star 30 years ago, October 21, 1980 MANY girls will be anxious to join surf life saving clubs this season. It is the first time they have been given the opportunity to become members and train for their surf bronze medal. 10 years ago, October 17, 2000 A PORT Franklin fisherman has drowned in Corner Inlet about eight kilometres from the mouth of the Franklin River, near the channel. He had been fishing alone. Five years ago, October 19, 2005 LEONGATHA’S retro rock band, Crimson Flames, is really firing after winning Australia’s biggest teen music competition at the Hard Rock Café in Melbourne. Crimson Flames beat seven other bands on Saturday to win the title.

Church Times ARIES - March 21 - April 20

Friendship and love are the twin themes of an upbeat week. A relative may make you privy to family secrets. Bargains that appear too good to be true are precisely that. TAURUS - April 21 - May 22

Friends may be in a less than forgiving mood, but relatives back your latest schemes. You may ﬁnd this a week of delays, but you may discover that they have a bright side too. GEMINI - May 23 - June 21

Small but numerous errands take much of your time this week, stopping opportunities for meeting fascinating individuals. Some of your best friends may be involved in their work - don’t take it personally. CANCER - June 22 - July 22

A relative may be critical of your plans, but don’t let him/her put you on the defensive. A group effort could yield success. This is a great week for signing up for courses or launching team projects. LEO - July 23 - August 22

Make a point of getting acquainted with people from various walks of life. If travelling, your plans change by the hour. Money matters improve if you are willing to think them through. VIRGO - August 23 - September 22

You are in the social limelight and excel in fundraising activities. Scholarly interests take up some time on the weekend. Hunches are strong. LIBRA - September 23 - October 22

You hear different sides from different parties, and objectivity is your key. Teachers or students learn from your wise words. Work progresses when moody people cheer up. SCORPIO - October 23 - November 21

Cultural and creative activities may lead to a proﬁtable venture. Your partner is ready to speak from the heart, but it’s up to you to provide the right occasion and environment. SAGITTARIUS - November 22 - December 22

Be meticulous in choosing words, especially if writing to people in high places. The end of the week favours modest ﬁnancial gains. Travel and friendship combine nicely through the week. CAPRICORN - December 23 - January 20

Enjoyable detours are scattered through the week - but keep travel companions in a happy mood. Home maintenance and health matters should be attended to immediately. AQUARIUS - January 21 - February 19

Major responsibilities combine with a demanding social life - this is one of the busiest weeks of the season. Your great gift now is being able to simplify complex concepts. PISCES - February 20 - March 20

The emphasis is on the new, with trips to unusual spots being among current highlights. If involved in property transactions, check facts and ﬁgures with meticulous care. BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK

You are meticulous but fussy, tidy but ﬁnicky, analytical but a born worrier. The secret is to strike a happy medium. Promoting ideas with zest could lead to future advancement. A period is launched marked by experimentation and travel.

ANGLICAN: Wednesday, October 20: 9.30am Woorayl Lodge HC; 10.15am Koorooman House HC;11am St Peter’s Mid-Week HC. Sunday, October 24: 8am St Peter’s HC; 10am St Peter’s Family Service, 10.30am Union Church (St Andrew’s), Tarwin Lower MP. ST MARY’S ANGLICAN CHURCH: Mirboo North. Phone 5668 1346. Holy Communion 8.30am: Worship and Sunday School 10am. ST PAUL’S ANGLICAN CHURCH: Korumburra: Sunday 9.30am and Wednesday 11.30am. Poowong: Second and fourth Sundays, 11am. ST GEORGE’S ANGLICAN CHURCH: Wonthaggi. Sunday, 10.30am: Holy Communion & Sunday School; Monday, 7.30pm: Holy Communion; Wednesday, 8.45am: Christian prayer & meditation, 10am: Holy Communion. CHURCH OF ASCENSION: Inverloch, Sunday, 9am: Holy Communion & Sunday School; Tuesday, 9am: Christian prayer & meditation; 10am: Holy Communion; Thursday 7.30pm: Holy Communion. 5th Sunday services, alternating at Wonthaggi & Inverloch, contact Rev Bruce Charles for details, 5672 3984. ASSEMBLIES OF GOD: Prom Coast Community Church Inc. - Foster Community House, Station Street, 10am: Sunday. Sunday School and Creche operates. Pastor Bill Watson 5686 2248. A.O.G. Inverloch - Cnr Bear and McIntosh Street, Inverloch. Sunday Service 10am; Imagine Christmas Day Service 9am. Contact: Jeff Robertson, 0418 125 832 or Imagine Burwood 9888 7466. Korumburra Southern Hills A.O.G. - 4 Mine Rd, 10am and 6pm: Sunday. Also Children’s Church and Creche. Contact: Pastor Vic Butera 5655 2478. Youth: Neville Stuart ph. 0407 343 219. Leongatha South Gippsland Liberty Fellowship - 17 Michael Place, Leongatha. Sunday services: 11 am and 7pm. Office: 5662 3100. Wonthaggi A.O.G. - Billson Street, 10am: Sunday. Contact: Pastor Barry Smith 5672 3984. CHRISTIAN REVIVAL CRUSADE: 40 Hughes Street, Leongatha. Sunday, Morning Service 10.30 am: Inspirational Service, 6.30pm: Children’s Church 10.30am: Home cells weekly. For all enquiries contact 5664 5455. THE CHURCH AT ARCHIES CREEK: Meeting every Sunday at Archies Creek. Morning Communion Service 11 am: Evening Holy Spirit Revival 6pm: Phone:

Ps. Chris Chetland 5674 3867 or 5672 4660. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST: Saturdays, Church service 10am., Leongatha Sabbath School 11.30am. CATHOLIC: St Laurence’s Parish Leongatha: 5 pm Mass Saturday, 11am Mass Sunday. Tarwin Lower: In St Andrew’s Union Church, 5pm winter, 6pm summer Mass Saturday. Meeniyan: 9.30am Mass, 1st, 3rd, 5th Sundays and 11am, 2nd and 4th Sundays. Mirboo North: 11am Mass, 1st, 3rd, 5th Sundays and 9.30am Mass, 2nd and 4th Sundays. St. Joseph’s Parish Korumburra: 9.30am Sunday Mass. Loch: 5pm/6pm Daylight saving Sunday Mass. Wonthaggi: Saturday evening 6.30pm: Evening Mass; Sunday, 10.30am: Mass. Inverloch: Sunday 9 am: Mass. KORUMBURRA’S AGLOW: First Monday every month at Korumburra Day Centre, Korumburra Hospital, Bridge St., Korumburra at 7.45pm. Inquiries phone 5657 2214. GIPPSLAND CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: Strongly family oriented church meets at the Senior Citizens Centre, Mirboo North, Sundays: 4-5.10pm Communion, 5.15-6pm Bible Studies for Adults, Youth and Children. Friday evenings: Home Fellowships 7.30pm; Youth Activities. Enquiries: 5668 2226 Bob Stevens. SALVATION ARMY LEONGATHA COMMUNITY CHURCH meets at 52 Anderson Street (South Gippsland Highway) - Sunday: Family Worship at 10am: Kid’s Club - Tuesday, 4 - 5pm; mainly music, Thursday 10am. All welcome. Please contact Captain Claire Emerton or Lieutenant Rachael Collins, ph. 5662 5122. SALVATION ARMY WONTHAGGI COMMUNITY CHURCH meets at 149 McKenzie Street every Sunday at 11am for Family Worship. Kids' Club - every Tuesday at 4 pm, Women's Group - Wednesday at 1.30pm, and Playgroup - Friday 9.30am. Evening Ladies' Fellowship - First Monday each month and Youth Groups held monthly. All welcome. Please contact Lt. Robyn and Max Lean. Ph. 5672 1228. PRESBYTERIAN: Weekly Worship Service 10am Sunday, corner Bent and Turner Streets, Leongatha. Phone Rev. Dr D. Clarnette 0409 236 981 or elder Col Rump 5662 2107. CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH: Reformed Church

meeting at the corner of Peart and Brown Streets. Sunday family service at 10.30am. (10am daylight saving time), creche and Sunday School available. 7.30pm service: All Sunday evenings except 1st Sunday of the month, 5pm service. Fortnightly youth activities. Home Bible Fellowship groups. Contact 5662 2527. UNITING CHURCH: Leongatha: Sunday, October 24, 9am and 10.45am. Mirboo North: 9.30am. Meeniyan: 10am. Wonthaggi: Sunday 9.30am, Family Service, all welcome. Inverloch: Sunday 11am: Korumburra: Sunday, 9.30am: Rev. Pastors Gavin and Sue Sharp, 5655 1997. Arawata: 11.30am 1st & 3rd Sundays. Kongwak: 11.30am 4th Sunday. BAPTIST CHURCH KORUMBURRA: 39 Mine Rd, Korumburra. Service and Sunday School 10.30am. Pastor Ian Wilkinson. Phone 5658 1366. BAPTIST CHURCH WONTHAGGI: Cnr McBride & Broome Crescent, Wonthaggi. Morning Service & Children’s Activities, Sunday 10am. Weekly activities see www. wonbaptist.org.au, Pastor Geoff Pegler 5672 4769. MEENIYAN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: Sunday, 10am: Meeniyan Youth Club Hall. COMBINED CHURCHES WONTHAGGI / INVERLOCH: 4th Sunday each month at 7pm. SCOTS PIONEER CHURCH: Mardan South. Pleasant Sunday Afternoons on the last Sunday of each month at 2pm. See occasional ad in this paper for details. For enquiries phone 9853 6627. FISH CREEK UNION CHURCH: 1st & 3rd Sundays, 9am; 2nd & 4th Sundays, 7pm. Contacts: Fran Grimes 5683 2650, Sue Poletti 5663 6325.

**** NERRENA’S Tim Wightman was the hero of his team’s crushing victory over Leongatha Town in A Grade Division Two cricket last Saturday, taking 8/25 off two overs. One year ago, October 20, 2009 RIVERS, creeks and paddocks ﬂooded, and motorists negotiated roads under inches of water as heavy rain fell across South Gippsland. Cricket pitches were so saturated, games were cancelled throughout the district. **** LEONGATHA teenager Dyson Heppell won the best ﬁrst year player at the Gippsland Power Football Club presentations recently.

QUICK PUZZLE NO. 8244

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 12. 15. 17. 19. 20.

ACROSS 1. Remark (11) 2. Woman’s name (4) 3. Plot (8) 4. Against (6) 5. Beam (6) 6. Sift (6) 11. Hue (6) 13. Scratch (8) 14. Whirlpool (4) Successful film (11) 15. 16. 18.

DOWN Killer (8) Flower (6) Kind (6) Hobble (4) False (6) Fat (5) Singing voice (8) Absorb (6) Spirit (6) Agree (6) Below (5) Soon (4)

CRYPTIC PUZZLE NO. 8244 ACROSS 6. In anticipation, the other struggled and fought to get outside (11). 7. Brand new? The sauce! (4). 8. In all, there are about ten I count on (8). 9. While taking in the fellow spies (6). 10. I’d broken out in skin trouble - something eaten (6). 12. I would need to convert the interior, certainly (6). 15. A girl meets boy book (6). 17. The oil goes far if sprayed into the vessel (8). 19. A wrinkle remover and a tonic (4). 20. Finish by annoying and putting the whole thing in jeopardy (11). DOWN 1. Return half the money, about, but it’s a mere sham (8). 2. “Not those, a different sort,” the man put in (6). 3. Bill is the fellow who sees that the mail goes out (6). 4. I leave before the rain with him (4). 5. Hedges providing shelter for the animals (6). 6. Dance with Chuck (5). 11. Put out the fire! (8). 13. Having gone towards,are caught by the man (6). 14. Describe as “A dreadful fiend and Eastern” (6). 15. The way in which a gentleman protects a lady (6). 16. Not a pithy way of saying “with one” (5). 18. He’s useful to the cockney (4).

Classified advertising closes 12 noon Mondays

PAGE 40 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 41

Big day at winery SATURDAY, October 30 is the date for Purple Hen Winery’s Cup Weekend music day. From noon to 5pm, the winery will host Gippsland’s Vampire Boogie and from Melbourne, Mikelangelo and the Tin Star. Vampire Boogie will get the show going around 1pm. This local trio plays a unique brand of contemporary rock, rockabilly and swinging soul. The boys have built a strong reputation for getting feet tapping and people dancing. Following on will be an up and coming four piece band from Melbourne, Mikelangelo and the Tin Star. The tunes are all Mikelangelo originals and the style totally

surf’n’western, with plenty of twanging instrumentals and sordid tales of love, death and despair. Whether you ride high in the saddle or crash through the waves, this is the music for you. It’s all great music to enjoy medal winning Purple Hen wines and tuck into some ﬁne Italian style food on offer. Bring a chair or a blanket and settle in on the lawns with beautiful bay views. Gates open at noon and music is from 1pm to 5pm; $5 gate fee for adults, children free. Purple Hen is located at 96 McFees Road on Phillip Island. Phone 5956 9244 for more information.

Playing ﬁne: Mikelangelo ﬂanked by his Tin Star deputies, Fiete Geier, Pete Olsen and Gareth Hill.

Classified advertising closes 12 noon Mondays

EIGHT South Gippsland artists will be exhibiting at a prestigious Melbourne gallery from this weekend. The G8 Collective will show at The Fitzroy Gallery from October 23 to November 4, opening this Saturday at 6pm. Eight of the most wanted Gippsland artists showcase their work: Andy McPherson of Fish Creek, Jane Power of Fish Creek, Anne Roussac of Yanakie, Kerry Spokes of Fish Creek, Annie Stark of Fish Creek, Grant Flather of Yanakie, Kim McDonald of Sandy Point and Sue Gilford of Agnes. Many of the artists have not shown in Melbourne before and are excited to show Melbourne just how good the art scene is down this way. Andy McPherson created larger pieces around materials he found while driving around South Gippsland.

“There are several pieces based on the panels from an old Holden ute and the pieces of a Chef stove found in the back blocks of the Strzelecki Ranges. I have used these with old timber in much the same way as I would use paint in a picture,” he said. Jane Power uses a wide variety of objects and media, including text and found items to examine the regional experience. Anne Roussac’s sculptures were inspired by natural forms featuring found objects, both natural and man made. Kerry Spokes used printmaking processes to look at the theme of children at play and how that can inform adult lives. Annie Stark uses acrylic paint and a thick medium in multiple layers with much rubbing and scraping back to create deeply textured and coloured works exploring the richness of the Australian outback.

Country proud: an outback-themed painting by Annie Stark. Grant Flather manipulates chicken wire and other wire to create extremely life-like animal sculptures. He also creates miniature dioramas featuring tiny wire people. Kim McDonald has built a site-speciﬁc installation while Sue

Gilford has performed pyrography on paper, wood and home grown gourds, plus works in wire. The gallery is at 274 Fitzroy St, Fitzroy, and is open from 1-6pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Phone 9417 3284.

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BURRA Garden Supplies offer even more for your garden this spring. Their range of mulches is extensive and includes the new coloured varieties which add texture and interest to garden beds. They supply ecowood, a safe treated wood for garden use. Railway and cypress sleepers are also available. Soil mixes and pig manure, either bagged or bulk, as well as a range of garden materials including sugar cane mulch, pea straw and pebbles, can help provide a professional result. A new quad dog trailer means they can move bulk materials with ease. Loader hire is available and tracks and driveways can be built or rehabilitated readily. Kelly and Adrian Hughes and their friendly staff can help you whether your spring garden tasks are large or small.

Come see: Kelly Hughes of Burra Garden Supplies invites customers to inspect the range of products available.

Water: everyone’s responsibility NATIONAL Water Week has come around again, celebrated from October 17 to 23. This is a time to think about the importance of water, where it comes from and how we use water in our everyday lives. The theme for Water Week 2010 is “Many sources, many uses, everyone’s responsibility”. In the lead up to Water Week, South Gippsland Water conducts an annual poster competition. Once again this was a great success, with more than 300 entries from schools across the region. Posters were judged on their ability to convey a water related message, how well it can be reproduced, effective use of art materials and originality of design or innovative concept. The South Gippsland Water regional winners in the four categories are: Prep, Brianna Noble, Welshpool and District Primary School; Grades 1-2, Blake Toohey, Toora Primary School; Grades 3-4, Cody Migliorisi, Toora Primary School; and Grades 5-6, Jonti Westaway, Foster Primary School.

Winning entry: Brianna Noble’s design won the Prep category. A 2011 calendar is currently being produced to showcase 12 of the many entries in the South Gippsland water posters competition. These will be available across the region in the near future. Water Week has always been a busy week for South Gippsland Water, promoting environmental awareness and efﬁcient water use across the region. This year is no exception, with an open day held at

Lance Creek Reservoir and a schools “World of Water Science day” being held at the Koonwarra Sustainability Centre Wednesday, October 20. South Gippsland Water managing director Steve Evans said: “National Water Week is a fantastic way to highlight the need to think about sustainable water use and water quality. Past years have been a huge success and we are looking forward to a busy week in October.”

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 43

Spring floral delights By Karen Haw Haw, The Town Centre Nursery COLOUR is in the air.

There is literally a choice of hundreds of plants from which to choose that flower at this time of year, from rhododendrons, waratahs, bulbs such as bluebells, to the amazing clematis. But one plant that makes a real statement in the garden is echium. At this time of year we get many enquiries at the nursery as to what is the stunning plant with masses of blue flowers. There are many varieties, but one of the most popular is the perennial variety called E.candicans. Its large, showy blooms mimic feather dusters yet hold themselves ever so seriously poised above leather-leafed stalks. Each spike is made up of tiny florets that burst open and remain open for a few weeks, enjoying the new-found sun before dying off to a rich brown hue. The echium is one of those plants that always seem to grab your attention. Its architectural beauty, both from the foliage clumps and the parading spears, is an obvious winner when it comes to adding them to any garden. Echiums are also known as bee plants and are excellent for attracting bees to your garden to increase pollination of all your fruiting plants. Another standout variety is called Cobalt Tower (echium fastuosum x pininana hybrid). When in flower the plant is 2.5-3m tall with stunning blue-mauve blue flowers. Grown from tissue culture for quality and uniformity, Cobalt Tower has an upright candelabrum branching habit, with lots of branches that in spring produce tall flowering spikes. After flowering, prune off spent flower spikes to encourage more branches for next season’s flowers. Once established echiums are very drought tolerant and grow best in full sun in a well drained soil. Spring is also the time for new releases and a real novelty with immense health benefits is the purple carrot. Available as seed and in pots (though carrots are much better sown as seed), the purple carrots are the original carrots from ancient Persia and are being touted as the next superfood. An Australian study has shown the ancient carrot variety is high in anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidants. Purple carrots are one of the wide varieties of fruit and vegetables that are almost lost in the era of single supermarket varieties, just like other ancient tomato varieties. Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that pigments in these colourful carrots, which taste just like regular carrots, may help prevent heart dis-

ease and cancer, and reduce cholesterol. Studies examining the health benefits of fruits and vegetables are revealing the disease-preventive powers of the pigments that give plants their distinctive colours. An interesting fact about carrots is that they are all more nutritious if sliced after cooking rather than before. For more information on carrots there is an excellent website: www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/nutrition.htm Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important and one of the many ways to achieve this is to garden organically. Organic gardeners prefer not to use toxic sprays and one method used is IPM (integrated pest management). IPM is an holistic approach to maintain populations of pest insects at acceptable levels. Selective removal of target pests, promotion of beneficial insects which prey on the target pest and habitual modification, all contribute to keeping pests under control. Sticky traps are used to selectively trap target species and are ideal for monitoring and reducing pest populations. These can be used with pheromone lures, such as the codling moth lure which attracts both male and female moths, and the cabbage moth lure. Each lure is vacuum sealed and lasts four-eight weeks once opened and placed inside the sticky trap. Whether you grow organically or not, growing your own is always best and at this time of year there is plenty that can be planted in the vegetable patch, including lettuce, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, capsicum, eggplant, onion, pumpkin, silver beet, sweet corn, zucchini and beans. For those who love butter beans the climbing butter beans are back. When growing sweet corn, plant the seeds or seedlings about 35cm apart into well drained acid soil with plenty of complete fertiliser dug in and in an area so the wind can fertilise the flower. As the plants grow, mound up soil around them to give them support from wind and to encourage extra roots. Water is essential when in flower. Grow beans amongst sweet corn so the beans can use the corn as a trellis. Sweet corn definitely tastes better when it is picked and cooked within an hour, as the cobs’ sugar content converts to starch over time and it loses its sweetness. Be on the watch for damage from snails and slugs as they are very prevalent at this time of year along with aphids. The organic approach for snails and slugs are slug traps that can be buried after being filled with beer or copper slug tape. Or for those who like the easy way baits such as Baysol or Multi-guard if there are animals at risk. To control aphids one of the most effective and safest chemicals is pyrethrum.

Close up: echium in detail.

PAGE 44 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

• VLE LEONGATHA

Jaws drop with prices A DISTINCT crash was heard at the start of the grown cattle sale, which in part was prices, but also jaws dropping.

Agents and producers were struggling to fathom the large price falls in the bullock sale, which also ﬂowed through to other classes of cattle. Prime bullock prices fell 13c to

19c, grown heifers 9c to 12c, and cows were 6c to 12c/kg cheaper. All of the regular buyers were in attendance, although one trade processor made no purchases. A smaller selection of 150 vealers and yearlings all sold at the cheaper rates, which saw very good quality vealers make only to 195c, with most sales 172c to that ﬁgure. Yearling steers made between 163c and 174c for a reasonable to good quality penning, while most heifers made from 155c to 180c/kg.

There were 125 grown heifers sold in this section of the sale, mostly between 10c and 13c/kg cheaper. Prices for the mostly good to very good quality offering were from 142c to 160c/kg. The sale of 430 bullocks preceded the grown heifers, and supplied a range of reasonable, through to very good quality. Prime C3 and C4 bullocks made from 163c to 174c, and medium weight steers only made to 2c/kg more at 176.2c/kg. Manufacturing bullocks were

lesser affected making mostly between 145c and 160c/kg. Only 400 cows were penned, which was a big reduction on the previous week. However, this made no difference to demand with all cows selling at cheaper rates. Better quality beef cows were the most affected making from 138c to 155c/kg. Larger frame dairy cows made mostly between 120c and 150c, with very poor condition cows from 71c to 134c/kg. Strong restocker demand created some solid prices for a number of plain 1 score cows.

VLE LEONGATHA KOONWARRA

Sale Draw October 20 & 21 1. SEJ 2. Landmark 3. Alex Scott 4. Rodwells 5. David Phelan 6. Elders

SALE DATES LEONGATHA

Wednesday, October 20 Prime Sale - 8.30am Thursday, October 21 Store Sale - 10am

PAKENHAM

Monday, October 25 Prime Sale - 8am Tuesday, October 26 Export Sale - 8.30am Thursday, October 28 Store Sale - 10am

Wednesday, October 13 BULLOCKS 10 A.G. Briffa, Yinnar 622kg 173.6 $1080 5 E.J. & R.J. Grylls, Yanakie 645kg 173.6 $1120 15 S. & G. Nardone, Narracan 609kg 173.6 $1057 14 A. & W. Hunter, Woodley 643kg 170.6 $1097 10 Ms N. Symmons, Fish Creek 709kg 168.0 $1192 1 P. Wilson, Leongatha North 685kg 166.2 $1138 STEERS 1 G. & C. Roberts, Allambee 450kg 195.0 $877 1 P. & K. Mobbs, Korumburra 375kg 190.0 $712 1 R.W. & L.C. Grady, Foster North 395kg 185.6 $733 1 Vuillerman Past Co, Yanakie 270kg 175.0 $472 15 D. & M. Taylor, Mirboo North 515kg 174.0 $896 1 M. Rowe, Korumburra 490kg 170.0 $833 COWS 1 Kennington Park, Mount Martha 655kg 155.0 $1015 2 T & H. Ohia, Devon 620kg 151.2 $937 2 P. & K. Mobbs, Korumburra 680kg 150.6 $1024 1 Malabar Farm, Tarwin Lower 540kg 148.0 $799 2 G. & N. Reid, Korumburra 515kg 148.0 $762 2 E.H., M.M. & B.D. Walpole, Woodside 590kg 148.0 $873 HEIFERS 1 N. & R. Reynolds, Tarra Valley 430kg 192.6 $828 1 M.J. & V.M. Green, Jumbunna 385kg 180.0 $693 1 H.M. & E.M. Price, Boolarra 480kg 177.6 $852 2 P. & K. Mobbs, Korumburra 343kg 175.0 $599 1 J. Baker, Meeniyan 535kg 168.0 $898 1 J. & D. Muldoon, Leongatha 425kg 167.2 $710 BULLS 1 Marriott Livestock, Outtrim 1115kg 176.0 $1962 1 I.M. & A.J. Wise, Mirboo 790kg 175.6 $1387 1 Nalajule Nominees, Leongatha 990kg 175.0 $1732 1 Simmons Investments, Woodside 1030kg 168.0 $1730 1 D. Joyce, Outtrim 835kg 168.0 $1402 1 Malabar Farm, Tarwin Lower 1060kg 167.0 $1770

Make more milk CHANGING the way farmers offer supplements to cows can increase their daily milk output by as much as two litres, according to new research from Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries. Scientists from DPI Ellinbank have increased milk yields, simply by changing the way cows are fed. They measured milk yields from cows fed partial mixed rations (PMR) on a feedpad, and compared the results with cows fed a more traditional diet of grain in the bail at milking time. Both groups had the same energy intake, but the cows fed PMR gave up to two litres of milk more. Senior researcher Dr Bill Wales said the “very exciting” ﬁnding could help curb feed bills while optimising milk output. Traditionally cereal grains are fed to grazing cows in the dairy at milking time and modern cows cannot seem to eat more than 22kg dry matter/cow. “But by using PMR and feedpads, we could exceed that. With these new feeding systems we have the opportunity to increase the dry matter intake of cows. We think we’re improving the cow’s ability to digest the feed, so she’s able to extract more of the nutrients.”

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 45

Regaining productive pasture A FIELD day this Saturday, October 23 will look at the cause and impacts of soil acidiﬁcation and strategies for tackling acid mat. Bass Coast Landcare Network is hosting the event at Wattlebank. Hosts, Len and Anita Trease will be joined by respected consultant, John Gallienne. John devised the program that has helped Len and Anita lift soil pH levels and break up the acidroot mat that, just a few years ago, affected most of their 150 acre property. “The pH was down to 4.2 or 4.5, and the mat was an inch and a half in some places,” recalled Len.

“The quality of the pasture kept declining. The only thing that was growing well was bent grass.” Coastal soils, which are naturally acidic anyway, are particularly prone to acid mat. “The microorganisms responsible for breaking down organic matter in the soil don’t like conditions that are too acidic,” John explained. “When pH falls below a certain level, biological activity slows right down. If you don’t do something to bring the pH back up, the organic matter continues to build up and soon forms a thick mat on the surface.” The impacts on production can be severe. “Although there are

a lot of nutrients in the organic matter, they’re unavailable to the plants, so growth is poor and the root systems don’t develop properly,” John said. “Also, because water can’t penetrate through the mat, high moisture levels build up in the organic matter which encourages root diseases.” John says that a combination of liming (in conjunction with soil tests), rotational grazing and occasionally ripping can help break down acid mat. “Essentially, you have to physically break up the acid mat, through ripping and/or grazing, and reduce the acidity,” he said. “That helps the roots develop stronger root systems and increase biologi-

cal activity so that you get better recycling of plant material and an overall improvement in soil health.” The ﬁeld day will also discuss other strategies that the Treases – who are part of the Bass Coast Landcare Network’s Net Gain program - have implemented to bring about productivity and environmental gains on their property. These include installing ramps and fencing off dams to improve water quality, protecting remnant vegetation and an extensive direct seeding program that has boosted diversity on and around their property. The ﬁeld day will be held from 10am to 3pm, at 810 Lynne’s Road, Wattlebank.

Making a difference: Len and Anita Trease inspect a dam on their Wattlebank property.

A light lunch and refreshments will be served. Participants are encouraged to take advantage of a free return bus service to the ﬁeld day that will leave Wonthaggi (outside Bass Coast Shire Council ofﬁces) at 9.30am and will return by 3pm. If you are interested in attending, please contact Dave on 5671 2471 or at d.bateman@basscoast.vic. gov.au or Moragh on 5678 2335 or at moragh@vic. chariot.net.au

PAGE 46 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Protecting wildlife: a Sugar Glider makes use of a nesting box installed at a covenanted property. Photo: Paul Orszaczki.

Seeking Agnes bush THE Trust for Nature is currently offering help to landholders who wish to protect important areas of native vegetation and wildlife habitat on their properties within the Agnes River catchments. Within the Agnes River catchment, Trust for Nature is providing assistance to landholders around Wonyip, Hazel Park, Mount Best and Binginwarri. This landholder opportunity is offered by Trust for Nature as a key partner in the Implementing the Strzelecki Multiple Outcome Project, a project enabled by the State Government, which has been developed and managed by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority to deliver environmental beneﬁts to the Strzelecki Ranges Bioregion.

Trust for Nature is able to provide permanent, legal protection for native vegetation areas at no cost to the landholder. A Trust for Nature covenant brings many benefits including: • permanent protection of native vegetation and wildlife habitats; • access to ongoing habitat management advice and support from Trust for Nature staff; • a rate rebate from local government; and • financial assistance with particular habitat management activities. If you would like to arrange a property visit by Trust for Nature, or for more information about the project, please contact: John Hick, conservation officer, West Gippsland, on 9754 7851, 0437 589 317 or johnh@tfn.org.au

Foxes in sights ANOTHER fox control field day will be held this month. The day is the second of two field days held by the South Gippsland Landcare Network, in partnership with Parks Victoria and the West Gippsland Cartchment Management Authority. The field day will be held on Wednesday, October 27 at the Foster Memorial Arts Centre, Main Street Foster, 10am-noon. The day will feature guest speaker David Farrar from Parks Victoria, and practical demonstrations on baiting and trapping.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 47

Classifieds public notices

MIRBOO NORTH FOOTBALL/NETBALL CLUB Affiliated with Mid Gippsland FL Are Seeking

FOOTBALL AND NETBALL COACHES For Season 2011 Playing / non playing Seniors, Reserves, Thirds, Fourths A Grade, B Grade, C Grade, D Grade, Under 17s and Under 15s Netball Applications to The Secretary MNFNC PO Box 44, Mirboo North 3871 Applications close November 1, 2010 For further information please contact 0407 053 582

INFORMATION SESSION SUNDAY OCTOBER 24 10AM – 1PM Koala Drive, Koonwarra Koonwarra Village School is opening in February 2011 and is conducting an Information Session for any members of the public who are interested in learning more. Feel free to phone Fiona McKenzie 0409 172 812 or email admin@koonwarravillageschool.org with any enquiries.

public notices

JUMBUNNA OPEN GARDENS Sunday, October 24 10am to 4pm 5 GARDENS ON DISPLAY Cost $10 Registration on the day at the hall Enquiries: 0419 880 621

QUIT SMOKING WEIGHT LOSS Achieve Success in 60 Mins

John Simmons

Clinical Hypnotherapist Group & Private Sessions Wonthaggi - Thur. Oct 28 Leongatha - Fri. Oct 29 Bookings: 5333 1565 or 1800 110 660 simmonshypnotherapy.com.au

ST LAURENCE’S CHURCH CELEBRATION Were you baptised or married at St Laurence’s? If you have any connection with the Parish you are invited to come and see our recent refurbishments and celebrate Mary MacKillop’s Canonisation with

Mass and Lunch At St Laurence’s Leongatha 11am Sunday, October 31

public notices

Cup Eve Dinner Dance

Monday, November 1 7pm at Dumbalk Hall $25 a head Children $10 (2 course Roast Meal) Phantom Cup call and great fun All most welcome Contact Marg on 5664 1236 or Bev 5664 4344

LEARN FIRST AID (Specialising in One Day L2 Course)

WONTHAGGI L2 - L1 - CPR Saturday, October 23 Friday, December 3 PHONE 0488 405 605 or book online www.victorianfirstaid.com.au

ON TRACK BRIEFING You are invited to attend the Gippsland On Track “plus” briefings to be held this year in South Gippsland. Data will include: • Destination analysis and Year 9 NAPLAN data, • Attendance data and Attitude to Schools data, • VCE, VET and VCAL results, • Aged 19 completion rates, • Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey When: Wednesday, October 27, Djinta Djinta Winery 10 Stevens Road, Kardella South Time: 9:30 for a10:00 start Finish at 1pm RSVP Essential Wendy Major, South Gippsland Bass Coast Local Learning and Employment Network wendy@sgbcllen.org.au Phone 5662 5500

public notices

business opportunities

“NON-FORCE PRACTITIONER” 28 Reilly Street, INVERLOCH HOURS - Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday by appointment Phone and fax 5674 3666 South Gippsland Chiropratic Services & Adjunctive Therapies P/L

Gippy Waste Cleaning • Septic Tanks • Portable Toilets • Water Tanks Phone Stephen

0422 998 025 1800 611 368

situations vacant PART TIME / Relief Milker wanted for weekends. Must be reliable and have own transport. Ph: 5662-3423 after 6pm.

SHARE DAIRY FARMERS YARRAM AREA Required to milk up to 260 cows. With own herd or owners can supply. Current herd available to purchase. 20 AS swing over shed. 80 acres lateral irrigation Phone 5185 1392

DAIRY FARM HAND Full time position available on a 450 cow dairy farm at Waratah Bay with modern rotary dairy. Involves milkings and general farm duties. Off farm accommodation available. Please phone: 5684 1425 or 0428 841 425

business opportunities

FREE HAIRDRESSING SALON

CHIROPRACTOR NORMAN G. VRADENBURG

MODERN AND CLEAN All plant and equipment included Phone connected with customers ringing. Simply take a 3 year lease at $330 pw Visit online at www.noagentpropertysales.com.au or call Kent on 0438 446 620

personal $ 70

personal day time special

hallam

penthouse make us your 1st stop

pca 4609b

public notices

PHONE 5662 5555 P FAX 5662 4350

Sell it in the "Star"

9702 4744

7 rimfire dr. hallam

situations vacant

Experienced Cook/Chef Required in busy kitchen. Must be prepared to work weekends and holidays. Accommodation can be supplied or arranged. Applications via email to: royalstandardhotel@bigpond.com

Royal Standard Hotel Stanley St, Toora 3962. Ph: 5686 2475 Fax: 5686 2008

Architectural Draftsperson Well established Building Design Company in Wonthaggi (Bass Coast Region) seeks a highly motivated Architectural Design Draftsperson. Applicants must have relevant tertiary qualifications or nearing completion, a solid knowledge of construction, an eye for detail and be competent with AutoCAD and/or Revit. All applicants must have a current driver’s licence and access to a motor vehicle. Expressions of interest including resumés can be forwarded to darren@dbdesign.com.au or P.O. Box 746, Wonthaggi. Enquiries to Darren Brown on 0418 379 301.

Careers with the YMCA! Boost your career with YMCA Victoria. We’ll invest ti e an e ort uil in your s ills an con ence because we’re as interested in your career as you are!

Customer Service Officers Casual - $19.89 p/hr

South Gippsland SPLASH is looking for energetic, enthusiastic and friendl Custo er er ice f cers to join the team. As the face of the organisation you must have a passion to provide outstanding service, excellent communication skills and a commitment to exceeding all expectations. Applications close 27 October 2010. www.victoria.ymca.org.au/careers

5662 5911 Get online for PD’s and how to apply.

PAGE 48 - â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE STARâ&#x20AC;?, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

situations vacant

APPRENTICE LOCKSMITH

Infrastructure Maintenance Supervisor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; South Area Permanent Full Time Position Fortnightly Rostered Day Off $57k Total Salary Package &RXQFLO LV VHHNLQJ D VXLWDEO\ H[SHULHQFH DQG TXDOLÂżHG ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH 0DLQWHQDQFH 6XSHUYLVRU WR MRLQ WKH ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH 0DLQWHQDQFH WHDP DW )RVWHU <RX ZLOO IRUP SDUW RI D VPDOO WHDP ZLWK UHVSRQVLELOLWLHV LQFOXGLQJ OHDGHUVKLS DQG VXSHUYLVLRQ WR HQVXUH VHUYLFH OHYHOV DUH PHW LQ UHODWLRQ WR WKH PDLQWHQDQFH RI &RXQFLOÂśV URDGV VWUHHWV DQG GUDLQDJH LQIUDVWUXFWXUH <RX ZLOO DOVR EH UHTXLUHG WR DVVLVW ZLWK WKH GHOLYHU\ RI &RXQFLOÂśV PDLQWHQDQFH SURJUDP DQG JHQHUDO ODERXULQJ GXWLHV <RX ZLOO KDYH &HUWLÂżFDWH ,,, LQ &LYLO &RQVWUXFWLRQ DQG UHOHYDQW H[SHULHQFH LQ URDG DQG VWUHHW PDLQWHQDQFH LQFOXGLQJ WKH RSHUDWLRQ RI SODQW DQG HTXLSPHQW <RX ZLOO DOVR KDYH ZHOO GHYHORSHG ZULWWHQ DQG YHUEDO FRPPXQLFDWLRQ VNLOOV DQG WKH DELOLW\ WR ZRUN DV DQ HIIHFWLYH WHDP PHPEHU 7KLV SRVLWLRQ UHTXLUHV D KHDY\ WUXFN GULYHUÂśV OLFHQFH DQG D VDWLVIDFWRU\ SUH HPSOR\PHQW PHGLFDO DVVHVVPHQW :H ZHOFRPH GLUHFW GLVFXVVLRQ ZLWK )UHG +XLWHPD 0DQDJHU ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH 0DLQWHQDQFH RQ UHJDUGLQJ WKLV UROH

Public Amenities Team Leader Permanent Full Time Position Rotating Roster including Weekend Work &RXQFLO LV VHHNLQJ D VXLWDEO\ H[SHULHQFH 3XEOLF $PHQLWLHV 7HDP /HDGHU WR MRLQ WKH 3XEOLF $PHQLWLHV WHDP 5HSRUWLQJ WR WKH 3DUNV DQG *DUGHQV &RRUGLQDWRU \RX ZLOO IRUP SDUW RI D VPDOO WHDP ZLWK UHVSRQVLELOLWLHV LQFOXGLQJ WKH VXSHUYLVLRQ RI VWDII WR HQVXUH VHUYLFH OHYHOV DUH PHW LQ UHODWLRQ WR WKH FOHDQLQJ DQG PDLQWHQDQFH RI &RXQFLOÂśV 3XEOLF 7RLOHWV DQG %%4V <RX ZLOO KDYH UHOHYDQW FOHDQLQJ H[SHULHQFH LQFOXGLQJ WKH VXSHUYLVLRQ RI VWDII DQG WKH DELOLW\ WR RSHUDWH WKH 0LFURVRIW 2IÂżFH VXLWH RI SURGXFWV <RX ZLOO DOVR KDYH ZHOO GHYHORSHG ZULWWHQ DQG YHUEDO FRPPXQLFDWLRQ VNLOOV DQG WKH DELOLW\ WR ZRUN DV DQ HIIHFWLYH WHDP PHPEHU 7KLV SRVLWLRQ UHTXLUHV D FXUUHQW GULYHUÂśV OLFHQFH DQG D VDWLVIDFWRU\ SUH HPSOR\PHQW PHGLFDO DVVHVVPHQW :H ZHOFRPH GLUHFW GLVFXVVLRQ ZLWK )UHG +XLWHPD 0DQDJHU ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH 0DLQWHQDQFH RQ UHJDUGLQJ WKLV UROH

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Aged & Disability Carers 2 Casual Positions &RXQFLO LV VHHNLQJ WZR VXLWDEO\ TXDOLÂżHG $JHG DQG 'LVDELOLW\ &DUHUV RQH WR VHUYLFH WKH /HRQJDWKD DQG VXUURXQGLQJ DUHDV DQG RQH WR VHUYLFH WKH )RVWHU DQG VXUURXQGLQJ DUHDV <RX ZLOO DVVLVW IUDLO DJHG SHUVRQV ZLWK D GLVDELOLW\ DQG FDUHUV RI SHRSOH ZLWK D GLVDELOLW\ WR UHPDLQ VDIH VHFXUH DQG LQGHSHQGHQW LQ WKHLU RZQ KRPHV E\ SURYLGLQJ DVVLVWDQFH ZLWK SUDFWLFDO WDVNV DQG VXSSRUW LQFOXGLQJ +RPH &DUH 3HUVRQDO &DUH DQG 5HVSLWH &DUH <RX ZLOO KDYH REWDLQHG RU ZLOO EH LQ WKH SURFHVV RI REWDLQLQJ D TXDOLÂżFDWLRQ LQ WKH $JHG DQG 'LVDELOLW\ ÂżHOG OHYHO )LUVW $LG &HUWLÂżFDWH FXUUHQW GULYHUV OLFHQFH DQG DFFHVV WR D UHOLDEOH YHKLFOH 7KHVH SRVLWLRQV DUH VXEMHFW WR D VDWLVIDFWRU\ SUH HPSOR\PHQW PHGLFDO DVVHVVPHQW DQG SROLFH FKHFN :H ZHOFRPH GLUHFW GLVFXVVLRQ ZLWK 0DXUHHQ *UDEKDP RU 'LDQH %\UQHV &OLHQW 6HUYLFHV 7HDP /HDGHUV RQ UHJDUGLQJ WKHVH SRVLWLRQV Applications for the above positions addressing the selection criteria are to be submitted by 5pm Wednesday 3 November 2010 addressed to: Human Resources, South Gippsland Shire Council, Private Bag 4, Leongatha 3953 or emailed to careers@southgippsland.vic.gov.au Further information and position descriptions are available from Human Resources or visit www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au

www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au

Most photos that appear in The Star can be purchased by calling 5662 2294.

A vacancy exists for an Apprentice Locksmith. We are seeking a self-motivated, enthusiastic person to undertake a locksmith apprenticeship based in Wonthaggi, working in all aspects of locksmithing and security. The successful candidate will ideally possess a current driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s licence, Year 12 pass and current police check. 2nd or 3rd year apprentices encouraged to apply. IMMEDIATE START Written applications to: The Manager PO Box 413, Wonthaggi Vic 3995 Or email: wonlock@bigpond.com Applications close Friday, October 29, 2010 Previous applicants need not re-apply

WANTED Service Technician - Diesel For our busy workshop servicing Case and McCormick tractors, plus all other ag machinery. If this is you, please send resumĂŠ to: "The Manager" PO Box 315, Leongatha 3953 Or phone: 5662 5333 b/h Top dollar for the right person

LEONGATHA Are seeking a

QUALIFIED MOTOR MECHANIC

JOURNALIST

to join our great team Good salary and profit share. Applicants need to be self motivated and competent in mechanical and minor auto electrical work. Call Jim McNiven 5662 2329 or email to jim@leongatha.autobarn.com.au

â&#x20AC;˘ Cadet Journalist â&#x20AC;˘ Qualified Journalist or Graduate Two positions exist for full time journalists on the award winning South Gippsland newspaper, The Great Southern Star, Leongatha. The successful applicant will need to live in or close to Leongatha, be highly motivated and have excellent communication skills. Cadet position would suit student with VCE completed with high English score. Qualified Journalist or Graduate would preferably have a journalism degree. November/December start All written applications to: Manager Tony Giles PO Box 84 LEONGATHA 3953 Or email tony@thestar.com.au Applications close Friday, October 29

Program Coordinator 4 days per week ECG is seeking a professional (ideally with sales, marketing or human resources background) to liaise with business, industry and schools to identify and coordinate Workplace Learning opportunities across South Gippsland and Bass Coast. The Coordinator will identify and create new workplace learning opportunities and expand existing work placements to ensure that young people are able to access placements, especially in industries that provide strong vocational outcomes. You must be able to develop strong relationships with all stakeholders and actively pursue business and industry engagement. Position description available on 5662 6700, sgadmin@ecg.vic.edu.au or www.ecg.vic.edu.au Email applications to sgadmin@ecg.vic.edu.au or post to Private Bag 5, Leongatha 3953. This position closes on Friday, October 22

Wonthaggi Kindergartens Inc. Wonthaggi Kindergartens Inc. has two exciting opportunities for enthusiastic and dedicated early childhood teachers beginning in 2011. Our community-based kindergarten has a supportive parent committee and dedicated staff with well maintained facilities. We strive to provide a welcoming atmosphere and have high quality educational programs and equipment. With the support of the parent committee, you will deliver an exciting play-based indoor/outdoor program and be responsible for the general day-to-day running of the Kindergarten group. If you are enthusiastic and positive about the current changes in the pre-school system, we would welcome your application for either of these positions. 4 Year Old Teacher / Director Hours: 38 per week (4 x 5.5 sessions plus planning) Qualifications: Bachelor of Early Childhood Education or equivalent Requirements: WWCC, Police Check, First Aid, Anaphylaxis and Asthma Management Training Salary: As per VECTAA 4 Year Old Teacher Hours: 19 per week (2 x 5.5 sessions plus planning) Qualifications: Bachelor of Early Childhood Education or equivalent Requirements: WWCC, Police Check, First Aid, Anaphylaxis and Asthma Management Training Salary: As per VECTAA For a position description please contact Moira Bates, Administrator on 5672 3257. Applications in writing by Monday, November 1, 2010 to: PO Box 151, Wonthaggi, 3995 or email Wonthaggi.north.kin.admin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au

â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE STARâ&#x20AC;?, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 49

situations vacant

MILKER/DAIRY POSITION VACANT FOSTER AREA

South Gippsland Shire Council in conjunction with GBS Labour Hire is seeking enthusiastic, committed and self-motivated Team Members to join South Gippsland Shire Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Infrastructure Department. We are currently seeking staff in the areas of Parks and Gardens and Infrastructure Maintenance.

Parks and Gardens

A second position is available to work within a team on progressive 380 cow dairy farm. All levels of experience/skill will be considered. Applicants should be honest, reliable and self-motivated. For further info please phone Kevin & Helen Jones on 0419 388 877

Permanent Full Time Positions Fortnightly Rostered Day Off $45k Total Salary Package Council is seeking to appoint two Parks and Gardens Team Members to assist in the maintenance and development of parks, gardens and reserves within the Shire as well as assisting with general labouring duties. 7R EH FRQVLGHUHG \RX ZLOO KDYH D &HUWLÂżFDWH ,,, LQ +RUWLFXOWXUH RU EH DEOH WR demonstrate relevant experience in a similar role, as well as the required licences DQG FHUWLÂżFDWHV You will also have strong communication and interpersonal skills as well as being an effective and positive team member.

Infrastructure Maintenance Roads Permanent Full Time Positions Fortnightly Rostered Day Off $45k Total Salary Package Council is seeking to appoint a number of Infrastructure Team Members to assist in the maintenance of Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roads, streets and drainage infrastructure as well as assisting with general labouring duties. To be considered you will be able to demonstrate relevant experience as well as the UHTXLUHG OLFHQFHV DQG FHUWLÂżFDWHV You will also have strong communication and interpersonal skills as well as being an effective and positive team member. All of the above positions required a satisfactory pre-employment medical assessment. Further information and a position description can be obtained by visiting Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website at www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au or GBSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website at www.gbs4real.com.au or by contacting Rod Gillow at GBS Labour Hire on 5174 2665. Applications addressing the selection criteria for all of the above positions are to be submitted by 5pm Wednesday 27 October 2010 addressed to: Rod Gillow at GBS Labour Hire, PO Box 1633, Traralgon, Victoria 3844 or emailed to rodney@gbs4real.com.au

G BS

LABOUR HIRE

Classified advertising closes 12 noon Mondays

situations vacant

TRUCK DRIVER Storr Transport P/L is a family owned and operated business specialising in local and interstate livestock cartage. We are seeking a full time Livestock Truck Driver to join our busy team. The successful applicant must have a Heavy Rigid or Heavy Combination Licence and livestock handling experience is essential. Written applications stating previous experience to be addressed to: Storr Transport P/L PO Box 25, Toora Vic. 3962 Applications close October 26, 2010 For further details please contact Stuart Storr on 0408 366 091

TANKER DRIVERS WANTED Immediate start UHT PROCESS OPERATOR Our client is Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest dairy co-operative, processing more than 35% of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s milk production into high quality, value-added products such as cheese, long-life milk and specialty milk/protein powders for the Australian and international markets. We currently have the above full-time position available within the UHT Department at Leongatha. Responsibilities include but not limited to the following: â&#x20AC;˘ The efďŹ cient and effective operation and cleaning of packaging machinery and surrounding areas so as to ensure that all product speciďŹ cations are maintained. Pre-requisites (previous skills and/or experience): â&#x20AC;˘ Core competencies include: ability to understand information, demonstrate reliability, ďŹ&#x201A;exibility, analytical/ problem solving skills and effective communication and engaging skills; â&#x20AC;˘ Demonstrate working safely and effectively; â&#x20AC;˘ Excellent communication, literacy, numeracy skills required; â&#x20AC;˘ Experience in performing tasks independently and as part of a team; and â&#x20AC;˘ Experience in food or general manufacturing preferred. AQF Level 2 or equivalent. QualiďŹ cations in food or dairy Technology preferred; â&#x20AC;˘ Forklift licence an advantage. Applications close COB Friday 29th October 29, 2010. Applicants are required to forward a letter via email or post which addresses the Skills & Experience criteria above with resumĂŠ to: Mr Louie Gonzy Branch Manager - Traralgon SKILLED Group Ltd PO Box 1535 Traralgon 3844 PH: (03) 5173 6740 Email: louieg@skilled.com.au www.skilled.com.au

Positions exists for MC/HC qualified drivers for farm milk collection and milk product transfers based out of Leongatha. You will need: â&#x20AC;˘ Clean and tidy appearance â&#x20AC;˘ Good communication skills â&#x20AC;˘ Basic mechanical knowledge â&#x20AC;˘ Ability to consistently maintain legal transit times â&#x20AC;˘ Farm pick-up experience is preferred but not essential â&#x20AC;˘ Current references and VicRoads demerit points and conviction record printout Email: leongatha@stoitse.com.au or call 5688 1367 for more information

wanted to rent for rent

120 ACRES at Leongatha, $200 per acre. Ph: 56622578, 0408-131485.

WANTED We desperately need available rental properties in and around Leongatha. We have huge demand for rental properties with quality applicants waiting for suitable homes and would be more than happy to give you a free no obligation appraisal on your property. Call Carly today on 5662 0922. If your property is exclusively listed with another agent, please disregard this notice!

VENUS BAY - house, short stroll to beach and shops, sleeps 7. Permanent rental also available. Contact: 0408-320001.

agistment

AGISTMENT wanted 7 quiet Quarter horses. 0419001636, 5662-2424.

AGISTMENT available. Good feed, water and fencing. Contact Rodwells Damien 0427-507369.

AGISTMENT available, 100 acres, Fish Creek. Dairy heifers preferred. Ph: 5683-2562.

PAGE 50 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

situations vacant

FREE CAR REMOVAL

Employment opportunities

Will pay up to $300 for complete car Buyers of scrap metal

• Lifestyle and Career • Opportunity to make a difference • Competitive package

All machinery Bins provided

If you are looking for a challenging role in a growing and fast paced environment then look no further! In these roles, you will have the opportunity to apply your skills and experience to make a difference in a diverse and dynamic community.

Social Planning Team Leader (permanent) In this role, you will contribute to the development, monitoring and evaluation of key strategic plans and policies that enhance the health and wellbeing of the Bass Coast Shire community while developing partnerships with key stakeholders and managing a team of Community Planners. Your proven knowledge in research, social planning and policy development will be the key to your success, along with experience in a similar position. Ideally, you will have relevant tertiary quali cations and be skilled in identifying key social issues, formulating policy to re ect community needs and possess excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Assessment Of cer (12 month position) As an Assessment Of cer, you will spend most of your time in the community performing ‘Living at Home’ assessments for the elderly, people with a disability and their carers. You will be self-motivated, have excellent communication skills and demonstrate empathy with a diverse range of clients. Your relevant tertiary quali cations, proven experience in a similar role and knowledge in this area will be the key to your success. Flexible working arrangements will be considered for both positions. Position speci cations can be downloaded from our website, www.basscoast.vic.gov.au or contact us on 1300 BCOAST (226 278). Written applications should be emailed to jobapps@basscoast.vic.gov.au or posted to Cheryl Sanders, Human Resources Coordinator, Bass Coast Shire Council, PO Box 118, Wonthaggi Vic 3995 by 5.00pm on Friday, 29 October 2010. Bass Coast Shire Council, 76 McBride Avenue, Wonthaggi VIC 3995 | DX 34903 Wonthaggi | PO Box 118, Wonthaggi VIC 3995 | 1300 BCOAST (226 278) for standard call cost | basscoast@basscoast.vic.gov.au | www.basscoast.vic.gov.au

work wanted

PLASTERER For all patches and fix-ups • Small renovations • Good rates • Free quotes 0488 544 871

garage sales

GARAGE SALE The “STAR” can help you promote your event with our

$25 GARAGE SALE KIT KIT INCLUDES 5cm x S/C advert (valued at $31.90) • 2 x A4 Garage Sale Signs • Marker Pen • Garage Sale Tips (dos and don’ts) • Sheet of Price Stickers • Star Carry Bag

Total package valued at $39 ADVERTISE by calling 5662 5555 or emailing classiﬁeds@thestar.com.au or call in to 36 McCartin Street LEONGATHA to pick up your kit when you place your advertisement

for sale

SEWING MACHINE REPAIRS & SALES

FREE QUOTES

used vehicles

for sale HAY - small square bales, $6 each. Fully shedded, suitable for horses, never been wet. Quality guaranteed. No weeds. Mardan - 5664-1320, 0428999691.

Bass Coast Metal Recyclers 5672 2946 0417 556 593 FALCON EB sedan, 91 model, T-bar auto, power steer, air con, CD player, second owner since new, has service books, steel blue, grey interior, 267,000km, reg. April 2011, RWC, $3,500 ONO. 5668-7226. TOYOTA Echo, 2002 5-door hatch, auto, 112,000km, 12 mths reg. RWC, ROJ580, $8,500 ONO. Ph: 0407743397. V8 UTILITY - see advert on Page 7 of this week’s paper.

free

FREE Pick-up and delivery in Leongatha/Meeniyan areas for MOTOR MOWERS,

CHAINSAWS AND STATIONARY ENGINES ETC. Repairs and services

Phone JOHN GOULD 5664 0012

lost WILL the person or persons who took the GMC 10mm power drill from nature-strip outside 5 June Crt, Venus Bay on 14.10.10 please return. Great sentimental value. Ph: 5663-7450.

meetings STONY CREEK COMBINED COMMITTEE

AGM

WONTHAGGI SEWING CENTRE

HAY - lucerne 8x4x3, A1 quality, Rosedale. Ph: 0448-441952.

Wednesday, October 20

5672 3127

MINI FOXY pups, 3 females, ready to go, $120 each. 5664-7202.

8pm STONY CREEK DINING ROOM

REPTILES - Baby Red Phased Bearded Dragons. Specialist breed. Bright yellow and orange colourings. Basic reptile licence required. $90 each. Call 5659-8254.

L.F.C. AGM, Wednesday, November 10, 7.30pm at Grandstand Function Room. Election of office bearers, ratification of changes to constitution. For details contact the secretary pollysplace@ dcsi.net.au, 0428-642371. All members welcome.

167 Graham Street Wonthaggi

CARAVAN, Viscount, 4 berth, roll-out awning, 12 months reg, full oven, 4 burner stove top. Excellent condition, housed under cover, $7,500. Ph: 56862661. CARDS, Bibles, giftware available New Beginnings Christian Bookshop, 38 Bair Street, Leongatha, 5662-0999. CARAVAN pop-top, 1993, ex. condition, 13ft 6” easy tow. Rear entrance, twin beds, well equipped kitchen, ample storage. $10,000 ONO. 5684-1363. “DIXIE PHEONIX” Cherrywood leather recliner lounge suite, 3 seater couch. Excellent condition, 4 years old. Moving to a smaller house. Cost $3,000 new, asking $1,800 ONO. Ph: 56816220, 0409-436451. FIREWOOD - Redgum, split and delivered. Ph: 0409-218775. FIREWOOD, redgum & local wood, Ph 0408-980711, A/H 5662-5175 FOR SALE or lease, well bred Q.H. mares. Working bloodlines. 5662-2424, 0419-001636.

SLEEPERS, treated pine, 200x50x2.4 $12.10 each, 200x75x2.4 $16.75 each. Free delivery for pack lots. Phone Joe 0417-530662. TIMBER - kiln dried blackwood, clear pine, silver wattle. Most sizes for furniture and craft. Also builder’s graded structural pine. Phone 5681-2261.

wanted to buy FURNITURE: Parker, Noblett, Tessa, Chiswell, Moran, or any quality brand name used furniture. Phone Wendy on 0409-234482. OLD MOTORBIKES road, trail, motocross, farm, scooters, 4WDs, minis, wrecks or just parts. Cash paid. 5664-8344. OLD CARS and trucks: Holden, Ford, Valiant, Chevrolet, hot rods, abandoned projects, wrecks or parts. Not for scrap. 0488-294894.

meetings

marriage celebrant

Jenny Milkins All areas - 5672 3123 jenny_milkins@hotmail.com

PAM HERRALD 5662 2553 0438 097 181

CAM ABOOD Leongatha 5662 4191

MERLENE STRATTON Leongatha 5662 2574

engagements McKNIGHT - HUTCHINSON Don and Cathy, together with Graeme and Glenda are delighted to announce the engagement of Kaila and Brad on September 23, 2010.

bereavement thanks COGHLAN - Russ. Faye and family wish to thank relations, friends and neighbours for their help, love and support in the recent passing of Russ. Your love, caring, floral tributes, telephone calls and cards will never be forgotten. Please accept this as our personal expression of thanks.

message of hope AND do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16.

deaths CHALMERS - Brett Henry. 1.10.1961 - 16.10.2010 at Stawell Hospital. Loving husband of Ros. Loving father of Luke and David. Dearly loved son of Norma Byrnes and Robert Chalmers and Don Byrnes (both deceased). Loving brother, brother-inlaw and uncle of Ian, Carol, Rhys, Dylan and Madeline Chalmers; Merryn, Chris, Ben, Lian and Tom Joustra; Tim, Alison, Quinn and Freya Byrnes. A kind, caring person who was loved by all. Forever in our hearts. CHALMERS - Brett. Loved nephew of Marg and Bob Harris, cousin of Heather, Alan, Owen and Robyn and families. Loving memories of the happy days. HARLAND - Len. Dearly loved Grandpa to Sharni and Allan and treasured Great-Grandpa to Rahni and Zenna. A gentle nature and a heart of gold, these are the memories we will forever hold.

Meeniyan Mechanics Institute Inc.

MEENIYAN HALL PUBLIC MEETING To be held at the hall On November 3, 2010 Commencing at 8pm Purpose of the meeting is to nominate no less than three (3) or no more than nine (9) adult persons as the committee of management for the Meeniyan Hall for the term of three years. The current committee’s term will expire on December 1. All positions will be declared open and nominations will be accepted prior to, or at the meeting. Nominations from women are encouraged. For further information contact the secretary on 5664 7406

Looking good: project manager Lindy Giddy, designer Andris Dinsbergs, council’s Ken Fraser, and chamber president Karen Pulham.

Website puts Foster online IF THERE’S something you want to ﬁnd out about Foster, then a new community website launched last week is a handy place to start. The site www.foster.vic.au is the result of a partnership between South Gippsland Shire Council and the Foster Chamber of Commerce. Economic development co-ordinator Ken Fraser ofﬁcially launched the site last week. He said council was pleased to provide funding of $12,500 as part of its Town Structure program to promote the shire’s major towns to investors and potential new residents. “This is part of the same project that recently produced the Leongatha Prospectus booklet, but the Foster Chamber thought a website would work better for them,” Mr Fraser said. “The site includes a business directory, event listings, tourism and community information and lots of local news.” The project was co-ordinated by the Foster Chamber of Commerce and the site was constructed by local designer, Andris Dinsbergs.

Classified advertising closes 12 noon Mondays

deaths

Props: Paul and Margaret Beck Ray and Maree Anderson WITH CARE & DIGNITY WE RESPECTFULLY SERVE THE DISTRICTS OF: LEONGATHA / KORUMBURRA

5662 2717

FOSTER

5662 2717

WONTHAGGI / INVERLOCH

5672 1074

PHILLIP ISLAND

5952 5171

MEMBERS OF AUSTRALIAN FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION

crossword solutions CRYPTIC PUZZLE NO. 8244 - SOLUTIONS Across - 6, Fo-retho-ught. 7, Mint. 8, Ent-I-rely. 9, Agent-s. 10, Ra-di-sh. 12, I-ndee-’d. 15, Miss-Al. 17, Paraffi-n. 19, Iron. 20, End-angering. Down - 1, P-ret(urn)-ence. 2, Ot-he-rs. 3, Poster. 4, I-gor. 5, Stalls. 6, Fling. 11, Dispirit. 13, Ne-are-d. 14, DefinE. 15, M-Anne-r. 16, A-long. 18, ‘Andy. QUICK PUZZLE NO. 8244 - SOLUTIONS Across - 6, Observation. 7, Vera. 8, Conspire. 9, Versus. 10, Rafter. 12, Winnow. 15, Colour. 17, Abrasion. 19, Eddy. 20, Blockbuster. Down - 1, Assassin. 2, Crocus. 3, Manner. 4, Limp. 5, Untrue. 6, Obese. 11, Falsetto. 13, Imbibe. 14, Whisky. 15, Concur. 16, Under. 18, Anon.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 51

They came to see GAVIN and Sue Sharp chose the topic Come and See when they spoke at and conducted the September Pleasant Sunday Afternoon at Scots Pioneer Church, Mardan. They are the ministers of the Korumburra, Loch and Poowong Uniting Church parishes. Their topic was taken from one of their readings in which, Gavin explained, Jesus invites in a kind and

unassuming way, two would-be disciples to follow Him. Gavin and Sue became Christians in their late teens and had experienced some “come and see” moments. Sue gave a practical example of Christian compassion as a lifetime commitment. She and Gavin injected new vitality into the concepts of grace, love and forgiveness. The Sharps were supported by outstanding musicians Ian Sullivan, organist and saxophonist who has

performed at the Pioneer Church before and vocalist and guitarist Johanna van den Heiligenberg, who was appearing for the ﬁrst time. Extensive discussions followed in the hall over afternoon tea. This month’s service will feature Sue McLeod, recently returned from overseas. She has organised the Ringwood Highland Games and her theme will be Travels in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Eating for health SUPPORTING trafﬁc light labelling on food is one of the ways that Bass Greens candidate Neil Rankine believes will help keep us healthier. He said health is not just about ambulances and hospital admissions

being available when needed. “We are waiting for problems to occur, rather than building and maintaining a healthy population,” he said. And that is what we should work towards. Stopping junk food advertising aimed at children and supporting the trafﬁc light labelling

that uses green for foods which are good for us and red for those high in salt, sugar and fat, are two of the ways the Greens will encourage health promotion. Dental care for all is another initiative. “Many people don’t realise the extent to which dental problems can impact on our general well-

being,” Mr Rankine said. Team management of chronic disease will reduce the potential for long term complications and improved access to primary health care are other promises. “We are at risk of today’s children being the ﬁrst generation to die at a younger age than their parents,” he said.

Above: Seeing: Uniting Church ministers Gavin and Sue Sharp, spoke at the September Pleasant Sunday Afternoon at Mardan on the topic “Come and See”. Chatting: Hazel Capewell and Jim Geary enjoyed the monthly service at Scots Pioneer Church.

Message delivered

What do you think? Greens candidate Neil Rankine discusses food choices with Carolyn Charles.

$10,000 for kinder THE Inverloch and District Community Bank has put $10,000 towards the expansion of the town’s pre-school.

Money: the president of the Inverloch and District Pre-School Association Kate Dwyer, welcomes $10,000 from the Inverloch and District Community Bank. With her are bank acting chair Terry Hall (left) and branch manager Jackie Laurie. Back from left are bank directors Frank McGarvey, Steve McHugh, David Schultz and Max Warlow.

Cramped for space and with a waiting list of more than 50, the preschool needs more room. Kate Dwyer who chairs the pre-school association, said the bank’s money was most welcome. Terry Hall, who is the acting chair of the bank branch, thanked local people for their continuing support. “As our proﬁtability grows, so too will our ability to channel a percentage of our proﬁts into community projects and organisations and also to reward our loyal shareholders,” he said.

Major players: mayors and chief executive ofﬁcers of the six Gippsland councils met in Leongatha yesterday (Monday) to present State Government politicians and candidates with the issues deemed priorities in the Gippsland Regional Plan. The Regional Plan was developed by the Gippsland Local Government Network. Among those present were Morwell MLA Russell Northe, Greens candidate for Bass Neil Rankine, Mayor Cr Jim Fawcett, Johan Scheffer, CEO Tim Tamlin, Bass MLA Ken Smith, Wellington Mayor Cr Scott Rossetti, the Greens’ Samantha Dunn and Bass Coast CEO Alan Bawden.

Safety alarm WORKERS in Bass Coast Shire are being injured at an alarming rate. Figures produced by WorkSafe show that in the last five years, 811 workers in the shire made claims for workers’ compensation at a cost of $14 million in treatment and rehabilitation. Of those, 117 claims were made in the past financial year. While that compares similarly in South Gippsland Shire with 106 claims in 200910, the number over a five-year period is far less than Bass Coast. South Gippsland had 538 claims in the five year period, at a cost of $8.9 million in treatment and rehabilitation. WorkSafe media officer Paul Fallon, said workplace bullying is “a huge issue” across Victoria and whenever its seminars are held, that particular aspect is quickly booked out. The Gippsland event is no exception. Mr Fallon said 111 people had already registered to attend.

While farms are dangerous workplaces, particularly in terms of fatalities, Mr Fallon said they did not feature in workers’ compensation claims. Mr Forsyth said the community services sector, which covers hospitals and the aged care industry, ranks as the highest for workers’ compensation claims. Manufacturing, trades, construction and transport/storage come next. The most common injuries are musculoskeletal disorders, stress, fractures, open wounds, bruising or crushing. Those aged 45 to 49 are the most likely to be injured, followed by the 50 to 54-year-olds, 40 to 44s, 55 to 59s and 35 to 39s. WorkSafe offers a host of material to help make work places safer, including free three-hour consultancies for small businesses. These are conducted by independent agencies which are not required to report any ﬁndings to WorkSafe. Mr Fallon said these free visits are extremely popular.

PAGE 52 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Allambee Mirboo and District tennis IN A Grade last Saturday, Koony and Hallston were washed out, and there was no result received from the Leongatha North and Leongatha match.

The rule is for the home team to notify the score secretary if there is a wash out. Teams that haven’t will lose two points. As some teams have played, those teams receive their points. In A Reserve Koony and Korumburra had a close game. Koony were the winners by one game, Korumburra won ﬁve sets, a tie-breaker and a 7/5 and all three matches have been 5/4, but only once were they winners. Leongatha won 7/2 and by 11 games. The ladies won well for Leongatha, the boys won sets too, a good team effort. Mardan and Berrys Creek were washed out. In B Grade, three matches were washed out, there was no scores received from the Mardan match. Some matches were called off a little early from what I heard. When teams are playing on hard courts often play could commence after a sweep off. Weather in Gippsland can brighten up as it did on Saturday.

Results

A Grade: Koonwarra v Hallston - wash out, Leongatha North v Leongatha - no scores. A Reserve: Koonwarra 4.45, Korumburra 5.44, Leongatha 7.46, Outtrim 2.35, Mardan v Berrys Creek - wash out, Baromi - bye. B Grade: Hallston v Foster, Baromi v Outtrim, Korumburra v Koonwarra - all washed out, Mardan Blue v Mardan Red - no score, Young Ones - bye.

Ladders A Grade Koonwarra ...........................22.5 Hallston ................................15.5 Leongatha North * .............. 11.0 Leongatha * ...........................6.0 A Reserve Leongatha ............................28.0 Koonwarra ...........................20.5 Korumburra ........................17.0 Baromi ..................................15.5 Mardan ..................................13.5 Berrys Creek .........................12.0 Outtrim ....................................9.0 B Grade Young Ones ..........................20.5 Koonwarra ...........................19.0 Baromi ..................................17.5 Outtrim ................................16.5 Mardan Red *........................16.0 Hallston .................................15.0 Foster.....................................14.5 Korumburra ........................... 11.5 Mardan Blue *.........................5.0 * Denotes no results received.

’Burra bowls host first twilight KORUMBURRA ladies had a successful pennant result last Tuesday, with both sides having a win. Division 2 were home to the Wonthaggi lasses, with a 12 shot win to the ’Burra lasses. With our best result, Debbie William’s lasses 12 shot win against Esma Coram’s lasses. Division 3 lasses had a similar result against Tarwin Lower, with Nancy Gilbert’s lasses, Margaret Hams, Joanne Lomagno and Judith Nichols having a comfortable win against Sharon Brown’s lasses. On Wednesday the ladies held their annual guest day, with 20 of our ladies inviting guests playing pairs. A most enjoyable day was had by all. At day’s end there were ﬁve winning pairs, with three pairs receiving a small memento from the club. Runners-up for the day were Judy Baker and Dianne Lindhard with 16 ends and 19 shots. Winners with 16 ends and 27 shots were Shirley Martin and Morag Revell. With fewer lads on the greens on Thursday, winners for the day after three games with 24 shots up, Keith March and Alan Morphett. The girls running the twilight bowls on Thursday night were very pleased with the

numbers on the greens. Members and friends are most welcome to come and join in these nights, names in by 5.30pm. Flat soled shoes are only requirement to play and bowls are available at the club. After two games, winners were Brian Pepperell and Heather Hancock. With the SGBA cancelling all bowls on Saturday there are no results this week. Next week’s pennant will see the Division 2 ladies home to Tarwin Lower and Division 3 ladies home to neighbours Leongatha. Division 1 lads are home to Phillip Island and Division 3 are down the track to Foster, with Division 4 down the track to Inverloch (no ﬁshing lads). To our not so wells a big cheerio, especially Helene Harris and Ken Williams; the club extends its sympathy to Margaret Brown and family on the loss of their loved one. Saturday although the bowls was cancelled for pennant, with some very ardent Inverloch lads wishing to have a practice, together with ’Burra bowlers, 24 bowlers played triples. After three games winners with two and a half wins plus 10 shots were Ron Hutton, Chas Buccilli and Emanual Sgarioto, runners-up with two wins plus 15 shots were Peter Shaw, David Goodridge and Michael Raman.

Milo cricket returns Wonthaggi players in table AUSTRALIAN and Victorian cricketer Andrew McDonald has thrown his support behind the MILO in2CRICKET program as it kicks off again for season 2010/11. MILOin2 cricket starts in Leongatha on Friday, November 5, 4.45pm at Leongatha Primary School. Registration will be held at the school Friday, October 29 and Saturday, October 30. People can phone Rob Wood on 5662 3052 or mobile 0408 820 582 for further information. The highly successful program offers the opportunity for children aged 5-10 years of age to get involved in cricket and will be conducted in around 600 programs across Victoria, running activities designed to be inclusive, action-packed and most importantly fun. Mr McDonald,

who grew up in the country town of AlburyWodonga believes MILO in2CRICKET is a great program, helping develop young cricketers both on and off the ﬁeld. “I think the best thing about this program is it’s encouraging kids from an early age to get involved in sport,” he said. “It provides them the

chance to learn about the game and have fun whilst doing it. By taking part in the MILO in2CRICKET program they develop hand eye co-ordination skills and they’re better equipped to take the next step in the cricket world. For further information and to ﬁnd your nearest centre, please visit www.

in2CRICKET.com.au

Milo cricket: Andrew McDonald and game development manager (country) Chris Harris.

Right on target

tennis championships FIVE Wonthaggi A Grade table tennis players have been selected to play for Victoria in the 27th Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships. This year they are being held at the Melbourne Sports and Acquatic Centre (MSAC) from Thursday, October 13 to Saturday, October 23. Players are competing in individual and team events ranging from over 50s to over 65s. One player, Mick Wright,

is the number one seed for the over 65s events. We wish them all the best for a great week. It is exceptional for ﬁve players from a small country association to be competing in national events and Wonthaggi Table Tennis Association continues their reputation for being a top Victorian club. Players competing are Michael Ede, Averil Roberts, Bruce Harmer, Patricia Denier and Mick Wright.

Players competing: from left, Bruce Harmer, Patricia Denier, Averil Roberts and Michael Ede. Absent Mick Wright.

Gippsland Cricket League team for U18 Round 1 THE Leongatha and District Cricket Association U18 GCL team to play Sale Maffra in the ﬁrst round this Sunday, October 24 has been selected and is as follows.

Leongatha squash THE results from last week are not available. There will be a meeting to discuss the future of the club on Tuesday, October 26, not the 19 as reported last week. If you want to continue playing squash in Leongatha please show your support by attending the meeting at the courts at 7pm.

Back again: the ﬁrst night of twilight bowls at the Korumburra Bowling Club for the season was won by Brian Pepperell and Heather Hancock. They are with the club’s ladies secretary Bev Button.

Well done: Kevin Scott recently had the good fortune of getting a hole in one on the par 3 14th during Tuesday competition at Leongatha Golf Club. The hole in one competition on the 14th is sponsored by Kevin Johns Retravision.

Mitchell Clark (C), James Sheerin (VC), Mitchell Elliott, Tom Gordon, Benn Hayes, Alex Mantiet, Mark McCall, Ilan Osman, Kallon Rigby, Joel Sinclair, Lachlan Sperling and Mitchell Thomas. Emergencies Tim Harris and Ashley Meade. The game will be played at East Campus in Leongatha, all players to be at ground before 9.30am for a 10.15 start. Lunch will be supplied, all players to bring their own gear. Please contact Terry Clark if unavailable by Thursday, October 21 on 0428 644 237 or 5664 4237.

Leongatha indoor netball Ladders - Oct 11 Seniors The Reps ...................... 140.9 Odd Bods........................70.9 Divas .............................466.6 Mixtures .......................190.9 LOLS.............................253.3 MJA.................................39.4 Rising Stars .....................52.3 Beta Blockers ..................21.4 Juniors Walawalawinchas ........ 200.0 Junior Vixens ...............133.3 Stars................................75.0 Gunners..........................70.0 Swifts ..............................50.0

11 10 8 8 6 4 1 0 11 8 6 5 2

Draw - Oct 25 Seniors: (1) 6.30 - The Reps v Rising Stars, (1) 7.15 - LOLS v Odd Bods, (1) 8.00 - MJA v Beta Blockers, (2) 8.00 - Divas v Mixtures. Juniors: 6.30 - Swifts v Junior Vixens, 7.15 - Walawalawinchas v Gunners, Stars - bye.

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 53

Ladies brave spring chills Inverloch

DESPITE all pennant bowls being cancelled last Saturday due to the wet weather, quite a number of our pennant players did get to play some bowls during the afternoon. When the weather improved around lunch time, our greenkeeper said the Tift Dward green would be open for play at 1.30pm, a couple of our livewire bowlers did a ring around among members to see if they would like to have a game and 16 players were willing to play, and by 2pm we began two games of three bowl pairs, and a very enjoyable afternoon was had by all in the rather chilly conditions. At the end of play no prizes were given, but the best two scorecards were held by Ernie Treadwell (ld) and Bryan Hensley (sk), and Ray Paynting (ld) and Trevor Scott (sk). Earlier in the day 12 of our players, mainly members of our Division 1 side, travelled to Korumburra to have some practice on their greens. Last Thursday we had a very small number of players play social bowls, only 16 entries. After two games of pairs there was only one two game winner, Peter Dalmau (ld) and Bill McGirr (sk) with 34 points. There was no prize for the runner-up. Players from our club performed very well in the association over 60s’ tournament. The ﬁrst round of this tournament was played at Leongatha on October 5 when Ted Bott, Dave Roberts and

Ron Kee won their way into the ﬁnal eight players, and they played in the ﬁnal rounds at Tarwin Lower last Tuesday. Ted was eliminated after a great match by the eventual champion, Bruce Anderson from Wonthaggi. Dave played his teammate Ron and won convincingly only to be eliminated by the runner-up to Bruce, John Turner from Leongatha.

Ladies ALL divisions played away Tuesday, October 12 resulting in two wins and a loss. First division won 30 shots overall, beating Meeniyan. Second division weren’t good enough against Phillip Island, losing by 54 shots. Third division played Korumburra and had a 27 shot win. Wednesday, October 14, 18 players played triples. Winners were Shirley Phillipson, Marg Griffen and Sue Nation with 24 shots. There were two team runners-up with 22 shots each. They were Pat Stoneham, Cynthia Hensley and Joan Clark and Jill Bateman, Carol Baines and Pam Sutcliffe. The ﬁrst round of the singles are being played and the second round must be played on or before December 8. The Friday night rafﬂe was another success. Don’t forget the next dinner will be on October 22.

Good sports: Shirley Phillipson and Lois Luby wish each other all the best for the Inverloch Bowls Club ladies championship.

Smooth style: Joyce Arnold opens her bowling with poise during round one of the Inverloch Bowls Club ladies Well balanced: Margaret Flett keeps championship on Sunday. her eyes on the kitty at Inverloch.

Korumburra parlor A FURTHER 23 bowlers attended parlor bowls last Thursday, and the club is looking to exceed that number next week. The only two games winner, with 13 shots up overall, was led by Joe Occhipinti and ably supported by Arc Gammaldi, Laurie Wyhoon, Lois McNaughton, Rob Stewart Michael Mathews. In bias bowls played on the previous Monday night, 15 bowlers provided some very tight and competitive bowling over three games.

Buffalo indoor ON Wednesday, October 13, 14 players, on a nice night to bowl saw four teams, two with four and two of three. There was a countback fourth and third, also second and first. In fourth (LLW) 10 ends, skipper Charlie Tumino, Peter Heldens, Carolyn Benson and Elise Wilkinson; third (WLL) 11 ends, skipper Bill Wolswinkle, Ian Benson, Joe Occhipinti and Mary Tumino; second (LWW) 12 ends, skipper Toni Heldens, Peter Tiziani and Joyce Occhipinti; first (WWL) 13 ends, skipper Sebastian Terranova, Glenys Pilkington and Jim Atkins. The best first game Bill 12-4, second Sebastian 11-6, third Toni 12-5. Hope to see you all next Wednesday at 7.30pm.

Fish Creek

Tarwin Lower

OUR club had a very successful day on Monday, October 11, catered and sponsored by the Clarke family. Last Tuesday our ladies went down closely to Wonthaggi and this week play Phillip Island. Friday was the ladies tournament day which was completely washed out, but everyone enjoyed the morning festivities. All bowls was washed out last Saturday. This week our men’s Division 3 play Tarwin at home: F. Carter, D. Christie, C. McGannon, J. Lavarda, R. McKenzie, R. Staley, R. Wheeler, K. Flanders, I. McLean, A. Kerr, R. Grylls, R. Everitt. Manager R. Grylls. Division 5 travel to Port Welshpool, be ready to leave the clubrooms at 11.30am: W. Ferbrache, J. Stefani, D. Stefani, N. Buckland, J. Lindeman, G. Napier, R. Cooper, L. Williams, A. Farrell, R. Poletti, T. Taylor. Manager J. Charlton.

BOTH divisions of ladies pennant played away last week, Division 2 at Corinella and Division 3 at Korumburra, unfortunately both sides lost even though they were well fought out games. Men’s turkey triples were played in cold conditions with the winners once more from Tarwin Lower: Brian Logan, Ned Clark, and Peter Tainton. Runners up were the Wonthaggi boys: Ken Webb, Alan McFayden and John Bird. Best last game went to another team from Tarwin: Arthur Newsome, Fred Martin and Richard Aly. The day was sponsored by the Venus Bay Caravan Park. Men’s pennant on Saturday unfortunately was cancelled throughout South Gippsland due to weather conditions. This month’s dinner to be held next Saturday will include roast beef, which will be prepared by Helen and Robyn, get your names in.

The winning team comprised Anna Meyer and Rob Armstrong with three wins and 17 shots up, with John Meyer and Arc Gammaldi taking second place with three wins also, and eight shots up. In third place was Joyce Occhipinti, Ashley Van Duffelen and Lee Armstrong with one win and two shots up. In the 75 up singles competition, Arc Gammaldi defeated Joe Occhipinti, Sally Gammaldi defeated Connie Occhipinti, and Joyce Occhipinti defeated Ashley Van Duffelen.

Leongatha AS with many of our sport schedules, mother nature sure took toll of the availability of any play associated with our bowls activities. Tuesday, October 12 saw the only play for the week, with our ladies Division 2 away to Fish Creek. They came away the winners by a narrow margin of three shots, while Division 3 were at home to Foster and lost 45 shots to 36 shots. Next round, round four, sees our ladies Division 2 at home to Corinella and Division 3 also at home to Wonthaggi. Wednesday, October 13 afﬁliated social bowls, as well as Saturday, October 16 pennant were cancelled due to the weather. There is still room for more names, entries available for the LBC / Regent Caravans mixed triples on Sunday, November 7 and the open pairs on Monday, November 8. If you wish to play please put your name / team into the club - Jeff Pendergast, Russell Trotman or Glenice Emmerson as soon as possible. Pennant round three, October 23, sees Division 1 at home to Foster and Division 2 away to Phillip Island, along with round four of Division 4 also, Leongatha away to Phillip Island. Reminders: The next Kitty Club tea will be held on Friday, November 5 at 6pm. Names to be on the list in the clubhouse on or before Thursday, November 4. Also the club will be holding a bowls event on Melbourne Cup Day. This will consist of lunch and bowls or just bowls, and again the list is available for names in the clubrooms.

SGDLBA pennant Results - Round 3 12.10.10 DIVISION 1 Wonthaggi 91 (26 shots) d Foster 65 (K. Simpson 26 d R. Richardson 24, I. Donohue 33 d M. Climas 16, L. Milkins 32 d L. Vignocchi 25). Phillip Island 98 (48 shots) d San Remo 50 (P. Francis 26 d K. Hale 17, R. Taylor 40 d C. Thorn 15, P. Davis 32 d W. Brunsden 18). Inverloch 91 (30 shots) d Meeniyan 61 (A. Tschiderer 39 d A. Van Wamel 12, I. Sheppard 27 d B. Dyke 21, S. Cook 25 lt M. Pearson 28). Lang Lang 85 (22 shots) d Port Welshpool 63 (J. Prowd 39 d L. McLaine 12, D. Motton 33 d A. Collins 23, R. Geyer 13 lt M. McDonald 28). DIVISION 2 Phillip Island 98 (54 shots) d Inverloch 44 (W. Braun 35 d E. Miller 17, J. Boyce 26 d D. Patterson 14, A. Green 37 d S. Phillipson 13). Korumburra 78 (12 shots) d Wonthaggi 66 (D. Williams 32 d B. Coram 20, J. McLaren 26 d M. McBain 25, J. McVeigh 20 lt J. Brusamarello 21). Leongatha 71 (3 shots) d Fish Creek 68 (F. Turner 30 d F. McKenzie 17, T. McCormack 24 lt L. Harper 26, E. McIntyre 17 lt P. Hazeltine 25). Corinella 86 (18 shots) d Tarwin 68 (T. Durbridge 29 d G. Bright 22, E. Johnston 38 d D. Barnes 17, M. Dillon 19 lt H. Twite 29). Loch - bye (1 pt).

DIVISION 3 Inverloch 60 (27 shots) d Meeniyan 33 (L. Dowson 30 d G. Densley 18, V. Muir 30 d D. Lindhard 15). Toora 51 (6 shots) d Phillip Island 45 (K. Barwick 26 d J. Christie 23, B. Curram 25 d E. DeVries 22). Foster 45 (9 shots) d Leongatha 36 (E. Dudﬁeld 29 d M. Jepson 13, M. Freeman 16 lt G. Emmerson 23). Korumburra 72 (41 shots) d Tarwin 31 (N. Gilbert 39 d S. Browne 9, M. Wrench 33 d J. Stafferton 22). San Remo 54 (11 shots) d Wonthaggi 43 (M. Bates 25 d G. Mitford 23, B. De Rooy 29 d D. Yarley 20).

Ladders Division 1 Wonthaggi .........................+81 6 Inverloch ...........................+63 6 Lang Lang ............................... 4 Phillip Island.....................+15 2 Meeniyan.............................-17 2 Foster...................................-43 2 San Remo ............................-58 2 Port Welshpool ....................-41 0 Division 2 Leongatha .........................+39 5 Phillip Island.....................+51 4 Corinella............................+25 4 Inverloch ............................-36 4 Korumburra .........................-14 3 Loch ....................................-15 3 Wonthaggi ............................12 2 Tarwin .................................-40 2 Fish Creek ...........................-22 0 Division 3 Toora .................................+44 6 Inverloch ...........................+26 4 Foster.................................+18 4 Korumburra .....................+15 4 Leongatha...................................2 Wonthaggi .............................-3 2 San Remo ..............................-4 2 Phillip Island .......................-11 2 Meeniyan.............................-35 2 Tarwin .................................-50 2

PAGE 54 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Netballers go gold digging THE 25th Annual Netball State Titles were held in Bendigo recently.

The weather was perfect, or perhaps a little warm for Gippsland region players who came from Yarram to Phillip Island and competed against the other 15 state netball regions in Open, 17 and Under and 15 and Under. The weekend is also a great opportunity for umpires to gain valuable experience and receive umpire crits and clariﬁcation. This year’s umpires were Kerri Besley, Andrea Thorson and Robyn Gray. After a three week trial period a team of ten 15 and Under players was chosen from a group of 24 and coached by Shelley Snooks. On Saturday they played six games, coming away with one win, one draw and four losses.

The Sunday resulted in two wins, another draw against the second placed team on the ladder, and three losses. These results meant that this Gippsland team placed ninth in the State. The competition was a fantastic opportunity for these young girls to play with other talented netballers and get a taste of the commitment and stamina required to play netball at this high level. For 17 and Under after three weeks of trials, a squad of 10 girls was selected to play and coached by Julie Hillberg. They finished Saturday with two wins, one draw, and four losses. All losses were only a margin of one to five goals. On Sunday they won five games, lost one by one goal, and drew the last game of the day to finish sixth out of 15.

The intensity and pressure of these games was very trying at times. All girls should be proud of themselves, as should their clubs. With seven of the 10 girls bottom age, this will be a real asset for next year’s state titles. The open side was coached by Cath Chester. The girls took a few games to warm up and get used to different combinations. They played five games on the first day, coming away with one win. On the Sunday the girls came out firing, pushing the eventual winners Dandenong Valley all game to go down by four. This was the turning point, with the girls combining well and finishing strongly to win two of the last three games, ending the tournament in sixth position.

Right: Under 15s: back: Donna Smith (team manager), Tayla Stahl (Wonthaggi), Hannah Flanders (Fish Creek), Lara Dunkley (Yarram), Tayla Smith (Kor-Bena), Ellen Sorrell (Kor-Bena), Brydie McKenzie-Edwards (Tarwin) and Shelley Snooks (coach); front: Olivia Cope (Stony Creek), Jac Snooks (Kor-Bena), Abbey Shore (Fish Creek) and Kate McCracken (Leongatha).

Open team: back: Libby Nicol (Yarram), Nicole Coates (Foster), Tameka Bullen (Leongatha), Tess Angarane (Dalyston), Cindy Winkler (Stony Creek) and Cath Chester (coach); front: Kate Pulham (team manager), Nat Van Dyke (Foster), Taryn Comben (Foster), Ella Angarane (Dalyston), Kate Rankin (I/K) and Nicole McKenzie (Foster).

Under 17s: back: Kara Wogan-Browne (Foster), Kim Hillberg (Kor-Bena), Zoe Wogan-Browne (Foster), Rachel Ronaldson (Yarram), Megan Rosser (Leongatha), Cara Humbert (Phillip Island) and Noelene Cosson (team manager); front: Julie Hillberg (coach), Zoe Waugh (Yarram), Tarli Hillberg (Kor-Bena), Alice Pratt (Mirboo North) and Sarina Cope (Stony Creek).

TIDES Top umps receive awards Here is an easy guide to tides in your area. To determine tides for a particular area, add or subtract periods of times as shown below. Earlier Minutes Apollo Bay ...........................25 King Island (Grassy) ...........10 King Island (Surprise Bay)....40 King Island (Franklin) ...........40 Lakes Entrance .................... 170 Lorne ...................................... 20 Mallacoota Inlet.................... 158 Rip Bank ................................ 15 Snowy River Entrance ......... 170 _______________________ Cape Schanck, Flinders, Mornington Ocean Beaches, Seal Rocks, Venus Bay, Waratah Bay, Woolamai ....... nil _________________________ Later Minutes Altona ................................... 195 Barwon Heads Bridge ........... 15 Carrum ................................. 195 Corinella ................................. 68 Cowes Pier............................. 50 Dromana .............................. 195 Frankston ............................. 195 Geelong ............................... 210 Hastings ................................. 66 Hovell Pile ............................ 195 Inverloch Pier ......................... 15 Melbourne ............................ 200 Mornington ........................... 195 Newhaven Jetty ..................... 30 No. 1 West Channel (Annulus)........................... 50 No. 2 South Channel Light .... 70 No. 8 South Channel Light .. 150 Port Albert Pier ...................... 90 Portarlington Pier ................. 190 Portsea Pier ........................... 80 Port Welshpool (Rabbit Island .................... 10 Queenscliffe Pier ................... 30 Rhyll ....................................... 60 Rosebud............................... 195 Rye Pier ............................... 170 St. Leonards Pier ................. 190 Sandringham ....................... 195 Sorrento Pier........................ 130 Stony Point ............................. 40 South Channel Pile Light ..... 190 Swan Island Dock ................ 120 Tooradin ............................... 105 Warneet.................................. 84 Williamstown ........................ 200 Welshpool Pier....................... 90

At Port Phillip Heads

OCTOBER Time

height (metres)

Add one hour for daylight saving

20 WED

21 THUR

22 FRI

23 SAT

24 SUN

25 MON

26 TUE

0209 0919 1507 2203

0.66 1.20 0.64 1.17

0330 1012 1621 2308

0.71 1.20 0.57 1.25

0451 1100 1715

0.71 1.22 0.49

0000 0549 1145 1757

1.35 0.69 1.26 0.40

0045 0631 1227 1834

1.45 0.66 1.31 0.32

0123 0707 1306 1910

1.53 0.63 1.35 0.26

0200 0742 1345 1945

1.59 0.60 1.38 0.22

All times shown in 24 hour clock 0001 - 1200..................AM 1201 - 2400..................PM

MORE than 80 people attended the South Gippsland Umpires Association presentation night. Megan Ryan in her second season umpiring was awarded the Best Performed Boundary Umpire. She has been a trail blazer for the girls in the association, being the first to officiate in a senior grand final. Todd Dorling capped off an excellent season on the boundary with the Golden Whistle, an award from the VCFL umpiring department for the most promising umpire. For the second year running Tom McCoy took out the Alf Wilder memorial trophy for the Best Performed goal umpire. Mat Holmes took home

the Bill Pollock memorial trophy for Best Performed Field umpire. Mat was awarded a life membership for his contribution both on the ﬁeld and behind the scenes for a number of seasons. Barry McCoy was awarded the Ideal Members trophy for his contribution throughout the 2010 season. Other trophy winners were ﬁeld umpires: Shane Ellis (Best First Year), Kane Pepperell (Most Improved) and Hayden Sinclair (Coaches Encouragement). In the boundary trophy winners were: Josh Plumb (Best First Year), Tim Buckley (Most Improved), and Michael McCoy and Rhett BoscombeHill (joint winners of the Coaches Encouragement). The other trophy winner in the goal umpires was: Eddie Hams (Coaches Award).

Well done: Todd Dorling (Most Promising Umpire) and Lynn Whelan (League secretary).

Great effort: Michael McCoy (joint Coaches Encouragement), Megan Ryan (Best Performed Boundary Umpire), Tim Buckley (Most Improved), Rhett Boscombe-Hill (joint Coaches Encouragement), Josh Plumb (Best First Year) and Geoff Kenely (coach).

Kane Pepperell: Most Improved.

Umpires: Barry McCoy (Ideal Members Trophy) and Mat Holmes (Life Membership and Best Performed Field Umpire).

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 55

Thomas wins golf singles THE 2010, 27 hole singles championships were held at the Lang Lang golf course on Friday, October 8. With the weather a bit damp at times and tough pin placements, conditions proved a bit difﬁcult for most of the competitors, but not for the eventual winner Rebecca Thomas from Leongatha, who won the event for the third time with 132 gross. The B Grade 27 hole champion went to Marg Johnson from Wonthaggi with 150 and the C Grade 18 hole champion was Faye Rosen from Phillip Island with 111. A Grade 27 hole handicap winner was Rebecca Thomas (Leongatha) with 118 1/2, B Grade 27 hole handicap winner was Julie Howard (Leongatha) with 119 1/2. A Grade 18 hole handicap winner: Gale Tyers (Foster) 81 net. B Grade 18 hole handicap winner: Jeanette Diss (Phillip Island) 77 net. C Grade 18 hole handicap winner was Faye Rosen (Phillip Island) 77 net. A Grade nine holes pm Gale Tyers (Foster) 41 1/2, B Grade nine holes pm Cheryl Stockdale (Lang Lang) 39 1/2, C Grade nine holes out Jan Beaumont (Wonthaggi) 39 1/2 and C Grade nine holes in Norma Corr (Phillip Island) 33 1/2. Thank you once again to the Bendigo Bank for their sponsorship of the South Gippsland Ladies events. Thank you also to the Lang Lang committee and grounds people for the presentation of the course.

Leongatha

WHEN will the winter conditions ﬁnally go away? Saturday’s ﬁeld was down to 27 dedicated golfers and best of those was Barry Stevens who is enjoying an increased handicap. Barry won the event with 38 points, just clear of Dan Malone on 37. These two not only had the top scores, they also hit the best shots on the par three holes - Dan the pro-pin winner on 14 and Barry nearest the pin on 16. Ball winners: D. Malone 37, B. Hutton, C. Leaver 35; P. Rayson 34, K. Wardle, G. Cole 33; M. Mafferty 32.

Tuesday With the better scores coming from B Grade, Allan Edney found his 35 points to be at the top of the A Grade pile. John King will be greatly relieved after his great 42 point round to win B Grade. We’re all anxious to know whether that resulted in a handicap reduction Kingy. Graham Calder (14th) and Peter Hobson (16th) were nearest the pin winners and balls went to the following: R. Thurston 40, F.

Well done: the South Gippsland Ladies Singles Championship’s winners were Faye Rosen (Phillip Island club - C Grade Champion), Rebecca Thomas (Leongatha - South Gippsland Singles Champion) and Marg Johnson (Wonthaggi - B Grade Champion).

Smedley 39, L. Newton 38, J. Arnott, C. Leaver 36; M. Oliver, J. Eabry, D. Clemann, P. Horman, P. Waters, B. Fairweather 35.

Thursday Once again the scores in B Grade were a little better than in A Grade, but Doug Clemann’s 37 points was still a worthy winner. Doug is playing consistently to retain his 11 handicap. Les Newton is back and he was one of three who had 39 points. After a countback, Les won B Grade from Peter Waters and Tim McCarthy. Steve Kane who was the ﬁrst professional at our club, won nearest the pin on 14 and Tim McCarthy won on 16. Ball winners: P. Waters, T. McCarthy 39; P. Wilson 37, K. Castwood, A. Nilsson, A. Cairns, D. Vorwerg, P. Hobson 36; N. Mackenzie, G. McDonald, C. Leaver 35. Saturday’s event is an open ambrose teams of four. Congratulations to Nic Cairns who stormed home to win the McMicking Plate. Two of his last three monthly medal scores were net 64 and that’s hard to beat.

Kit Boag Day

The 34th annual Kit Boag Day was played on Sunday in cool conditions, but fortunately little rain. Many thanks to Kit for continuing to make those great rugs for the prizes. Shane Blundy made a rare appearance at the club, but Ann had him ﬁrmly under control and the two of them had the best score of 88-197/8-68½. As well we had an A and B Grade prize. Peter and Sharryn Rayson always combine well and their score of 82-12¾-69¼ won them the rugs for A Grade. President Chris Leaver was successful in B Grade with 95-22½-72½. Wendy Brown won the ladies nearest the pin on the 14th and Brian Twite was closest on the 16th. Pairs to win balls were: Bill and Jocelyn Howson 72¾, Steve Gannon and Wendy Surman 733/8, Ryan Thomas and Wendy Brown 741/8, Doug Clemann and Maria Bell 74¾, Tim McCarthy and Helen Dennison 75¼. Balls were also awarded to the ‘hardest-working’ pairs - Ian Danks and Coral Gray as well as Tim and Margaret Danks. The day did improve for the Danks family

when Ian won the rafﬂe.

Ladies THE Lois Cameron Memorial Canadian Foursomes is a prestigious board event played annually and we are grateful to Rod Cameron for his sponsorship. On Wednesday, October 13 the qualifying round was played. Best score of the day and ﬁrst to qualify were family pair Rebecca Thomas and Wendy Brown. They had a good round in the heavy conditions to win 87 / 13 1/8 73 7/8. Next best to qualify, winning the runners-up trophy, was the pair of Jill Steer and Shirley Welsford with 98 / 23 1/4 / 74 3/4. Ball winners and third qualiﬁers were Wendy Surman and Debbie Miller, with 76 7/8. Last to qualify, also ball winners, were Maxine Eabry and Trish Owen, 79 1/4. These pairs now play knockout match play to determine the winners. Not far behind, also winning balls, were Joy Runge and Gwen Chapman, 79 7/8, and Evelyn Indian and Marianne Leaver, 80. Rebecca Thomas won nearest the pin.

Foster SATURDAY, October 17 – stableford (club trophy). Winner: Gary Clavarino (20) 38points. Down the line: Lloyd McKenzie (11) 32 points. Nearest the pin: sixth George Draeger. Wednesday, October 13 – medal day and star medallist playoff. Star medallist: Robyn Galloway. (Little Book Shop Trophy). Medal winner: Robyn Galloway (12) 69 net (Barb Fuller Trophy). A Grade winner: Robyn Galloway (12) 69 net. B Grade winner: Val Gow (40) 79 net. A Grade scratch: Robyn Galloway 81. Kit Boag Day winners: from left, Marianne and Chris Leaver (B Grade), Ann B Grade scratch: and Shane Blundy (overall winners), Peter and Sharryn Rayson (A Grade) at Margaret Blake 108. Leongatha Golf Club. Putting Jenny Mountford

28 countback. Down the line: Beth Curram (21) 71 net, Ineke de Graaf (24) 72 net. Nearest the pin: 17th Heather Ray. Thursday October 147 – par. Winner: Neville Thompson (9) +3. Down the line: Larry Giddy (18) +1, Robert Blake (14) +1. Coming events: Tuesday, October 19 – stableford. Wednesday, October 20 – ﬁrst round club championships. Breast Cancer Day – Whinnie McAinch trophy. Thursday, October 21 – stableford. Friday, October 22 – twilight stableford. Saturday, October 23 – lefties v righties (Kevin and Marilyn Flett Trophy).

South Gippsland veterans WONTHAGGI golf course saw grey skies give way to blue on October 14.

The course has recovered well from the wet winter and though damp it was a pleasure to play on. Some players found it more of a pleasure than others as 90 vets played a two ball ambrose. Our sincerest thanks go to Don Burke who for the second time this year provided the trophies courtesy of the 2010 Veterans Golf Classic. Once the last divot had been replaced the results were as follows: Winners were Ray Davis and Ian Barlow of Leongatha Golf Club with a fine 62. They each received a free pass for four players to have a round of golf at Kingswood Golf Club at Dingley. Runners-up were Kevin Bayley and Rob Furborough of Wonthaggi with 63 who each received an umbrella. Nearest the pins went to Korumburra’s Leigh Sharp on the second, Wonthaggi’s Peter Mitchell-Dawson on the eighth and 17th while Bill Howard from the same club took out the 13th. Ball run down went to 70.5. I (Don Chapman) cannot leave this report without a mention of my partner’s efforts on the day. Peter Crothers played brilliant golf from the first tee to the 18th green, hitting drives that were straight and long combined with a finesse in his approach shots that showed the touch of the brain surgeon he must have been. Mine was the op that failed. He was responsible for our score of 63.75. The VVGA state championships for 2010 were held at Wangaratta Golf Club on October 4 and 5. The winners of the four ball better ball stableford competition were Phil Chapman and John Richardson from Wonthaggi Golf Club. John also won the Golden Turkey Award, but was very reticent about how he qualified for this trophy. To win a state championship is a tremendous achievement. Next game is the SGVGA 2010 Championship at Lang Lang on Tuesday, November 16. You are eligible to play as a championship contender if you have previously played three or more veteran games in 2010 otherwise you are welcome to come and compete on the day.

Mirboo North THERE were 17 starters for the stableford event on Thursday, October 14. The CCR was 70. A Grade winner was Joe Taylor (21) 41 countback. Down the line: Joe Kus (17) 41, Tom Traill (10) 39, Cec Eden (36) 39. Birdie 4th - Tom Traill.

Ladies The winner of the ladies stroke competition held on Wednesday, October 13 was C. Gunn 23 hcp, 91-23-68. Down the line: R. Leslie 97-29-68, R. Millsom 112-44-68, J. St Ellen 103-

31-72. Nearest the pin: 6th T. Higginbottom, 13th S. Traill.

Saturday, October 16

The A Grade winner of the stableford event on Saturday was Doug Taylor (24) 45. There were 14 starters and the CCR was 70. Down the line: Terry Donnison (19) 41, Tom Traill (10) 38 countback. Nearest the pin: 4th Joe Kus, 6th Doug Taylor, 13th John Blunsden, 16th Tom Traill, 1st hole 2nd shot Peter Draper. Birdies: Tom Traill (16th), Joe Kus (4th).

PAGE 56 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Golfing girls’ day out PINK was the colour of the day for the Woorayl Golf Club ladies annual Girls Day Out for Breast Cancer Awareness on Monday October 11. A full field of some 69 players competed from nine South Gippsland Clubs and from further afield from Garfield, Mount Martha and Rosanna. The major sponsors for the event were Kelvin and Cathy Smith of Kelvin Johns

Retravision in Leongatha who have sponsored the event for many years, and Perret and Associates provided give away bags for golfers on the day. Results Nearest the pin 8th - K.McKenzie, 11th – F. Curram, 17th J. Grifﬁn. Trivia winners - J. West, J. Howard, G. Chapman. Rafﬂe winner of the Jane McGrath Rose-Karin McKenzie.

Meeniyan: from left, golfers from the Meeniyan Golf Club Dot Elliott, Jan Trease and Grace Benson enjoyed playing in the Girls Day Out at Woorayl last week.

Woorayl WILD early weather didn’t stop our golfers playing a par event on Saturday sponsored by Aygee Soft Drinks. The A Grade winner with plus three was Danny Dwyer winning from Brendan Robjant, B Grade was won by George Johnson, again with plus three from Greg Fennell whose syndicate also won the raffle, and C Grade and best score of the day was by Rob Warren with plus four winning from John Hassett. Balls down the line went to G. Calder, R. Gourlay, T. Goldie and J. Redmond. The nearest the pins went to L. Wakefield (8th) and G. Salmon (17th). This coming Thursday is meal and raffle night, so come along even if it’s only for the meal which is the best value in town. The weather forced the postponement of our Mulligan’s Day, so keep a lookout around the clubhouse for the new date. Thursday’s chook run saw chickens go to B. James and

C. Turner, and a ball for C. James.

Woorayl ladies ON Wednesday, October 13 Roses Day and final round of S. and B. Thomas stableford aggregate was played. The event was sponsored by Rosemary Wood and the AWCR was 72. A Grade winner was S. Wakefield 21/40 pts, B Grade M. Higgins 25/38 and C Grade F. Maynard 33/34. Winners of S. and B. Thomas board event - S. Wakefield and F. Maynard 74 pts. Nearest the pin: 8th L. Young, 17th P. Lancaster, 2nd shot on the 11th F. Maynard. Down the line balls: P. Lancaster, C. Perrett, D. O’Connor and L. Young. Handicap break: S. Wakefield 21/20, P. Lancaster 23, C. Perrett 18, F. Maynard 32. Next week: 1st round club championships, stroke sponsored by Leongatha Photographics and Electronics, senior ladies trophy, Dot Forrester 54 hole net event.

Leongatha District Cricket Association Umpire Appointments EVANS PETROLEUM Round 3 - October 23 Home team Grade A1 Imperials Won Workmens OMK Thomas Korumburra Grade A2 Phillip Island Kilcunda-Bass an Fish Crk-Tarwin MDU Grade B1 Won Miners Inverloch Paddy Cummins Nerrena Phillip Island Grade B2 Koonwarra-RSL Lanyon Poowong-Loch OMK Town Grade C1 Town Won Workmens Foster Phillip Island Grade C2 Poowong-Loch MDU OMK Imperials Phillip Island

Away Team v Won Miners v Inverloch v Nerrena

Clive Salmon / Graham Laird McM Alan Jordan W Turf Brendon Terry Rogers

v Glen Alvie Cowes Alan Roberts v Poowong-Loch Bass Michael Heenv Foster v Town

Tar Meen

Ken Lester Luke Sullivan

v Imperials WFG v Won Workmens

Les White I Tur f

v OMK v Glen Alvie

Nerr New

John Lea Ian Thomas

v Korumburra

Koon

S t e p h e n

v Kilcunda-Bass Loch v Fish Crk-Tarwin OMK v MDU WC1

Herb Roberts Dave Harris Geoff Wyatt

v Won Miners v Korumburra v Nerrena v Inverloch

TBA Marian Wishart TBA TBA

WC2 Inv Rec FGC Rhyll

v Glen Alvie GA v Koonwarra-RSLDum v Kilcunda-Bass KSC v Won Workmens v Town New

TBA TBA TBA LV TBA

COLLINGWOOD premiership stars flew onto Phillip Island last Thursday for a kick to kick with some of the international MotoGP riders. Local Pies supporters were thrilled to catch up with former Kilcunda-Bass footballer Brent Macaffer who helped Collingwood to a win in the 2010 AFL grand final. The Collingwood players including Alan Didak, Tyson Goldsack, Nathan Brown and local hero Brent Macaffer arrived at the Island in style by helicopter for their fleeting visit to the Phillip Island Football ground. Following the kick-to-kick the Collingwood players presented MotoGP riders including World champion Jorge Lorenzo, Nicky Hayden, Marco Simoncelli, Moto2 World Champion Toni Elias and Andrea Dovizioso with special Collingwood football jumpers displaying the riders’ names. Pies players and riders were happy to pose for photos with the 2010 AFL Premiership Cup and 2010 IVECO Australian MotoGP trophy.

A Grade: from left winners of the A Grade Girls Day Out event at the Woorayl Golf Club on Monday, October 19 are Sue Wakeﬁeld, Maxine Eabry and Trish Owen with runners-up Marlene Rayson, Pauline Lancaster and Marg Clasby.

B Grade: from left winners of the B Grade Girls Day Out event at the Woorayl Golf Club on Monday, October 19 are Val Gow, Alayne McKenzie and Frances McGlead with runners-up Marg Higgins, Linda Brown and Pat Harvey.

Sporting stars: former Kilcunda-Bass footballer and Collingwood premiership player Brent Macaffer, MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Collingwood star Alan Didak with the AFL premiership cup and MotoGP trophy during a kick-to-kick session at Phillip Island last Thursday.

Calisthenics girls win state championship

Ground Umpire

v Koonwarra-RSLKor

Riders kick-off with Magpies

TBA

FUNFIT calisthenics intermediates have won the state championships in their division. After two successful aggregate wins in other competitions, the girls placed first in all their six sections and took the overall aggregate win at the states. It has been such a successful year and the friendships of the girls helped them work so well together as a team. The girls started working on their routines in Term 1 and are always looking to improve. The girls are now learning a few extra routines to add to the club cabaret theme for the upcoming annual concert with two shows on Saturday, November 13 at the Wonthaggi Union Arts Centre. The interest in calisthenics is growing in this area as it offers great basic dance technique, combined with flexibility, co-ordination skills and the option to perform. In 2011 FunFit Calisthenics is going to introduce morning cali dance play classes for preschoolers in Korumburra and Wonthaggi, and other areas if a small group of mums are interested. If you are interested to see what calisthenics has to offer, come along to the matinee concert at 2.30 pm (limited seats available) or the evening concert at 7pm. At the competition: back: Neesh Felton, Emily Smith and Louise Adkins (coach): midTickets are available at the door or dle: Maddie Cant, Michelle Green, Rachel Adkins and Shelley McCormack; front: Kate- phone bookings call Louise on 0409 598 lyn Adkins, Angelique Dunlevie and Sophie Adkins. 250 or by email: funfitcali@dcsi.net.au

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 57

Home with games silver SHE’S home tired, but triumphant.

55kms done: catching up for a food break at the halfway point to Queenscliff were, from left, Colin Boyd, Steve Wilson and Jesse Boyd.

Still fresh: looking ﬁt after the ﬁrst 55 kms are, from left, Scott Peterson, Neil White, Steve Wilson and Rob James.

Linda Ryan of Kardella South, won a silver medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, competing in the women’s pistol pair. She ﬂew in on Saturday evening and was back at work at Bass Coast Council yesterday morning. “It’s all a bit surreal,” she said. Linda had a wonderful time at the

games, describing the experience as “pretty awesome”. While she would have preferred to have won a gold medal, she said she was happy to have the silver, describing it as “a beautiful medal”. She will take a break from the demands of her sport. “I won’t do any competitive shooting until at least next year.” And she’ll assess her options then.

Round the Bay warriors A NUMBER of South Gippsland riders took part in the Round the Bay in a Day Ride on Sunday. Most of the cyclists chose the 210km option, travelling from Melbourne to Queenscliff, taking the ferry to Sorrento and travelling back to Melbourne via Rosebud, Dromana, Mornington, Frankston, Mordialloc, Mentone and through to the Alexandra gardens and the ﬁnish line. A few others rode from Melbourne to Sorrento and return and others the 100km ride from Sorrento to Melbourne. The Inverloch “Coastal Cruisers” were well represented, many riding

in the Vision Stream team while others were from the Leongatha Cycling Club. They set a cracking pace for the journey, arriving into Melbourne around 2pm. For many it was an early start to the day, with the alarms set for 4am and the wheels turning by 5.30am. The weather, terrible on Friday and Saturday, had improved for the Sunday start. Showers between Geelong and Queenscliff were offset by a tailwind where riders reached up to speeds of 50 km/h. A crosswind coming back from Sorrento meant cyclists had to dig deep and work in pelotons to nullify the breeze.

Not too many mishaps; although Jesse Boyd came off his bike but shrugged this off and kept going. Charity organisation, The Smith Family, has been the ofﬁcial charity partner of Around the Bay in a Day for 18 years now. Participants in the ride give back to the community by helping disadvantaged Aussie kids to overcome their challenges and realise their potential through education. This year’s fundraising target is $1 million which will provide more than 3000 disadvantaged kids with access to education and learning support and help break the cycle of disadvantage.

Ferry wait: preparing to board the Queenscliff to Sorrento ferry at the 110km mark are, from left, Mandy Scott, Paul Taranto and Steve Piasente.

Silver glory: Linda Ryan with her Commonwealth Games silver medal.

Leongatha unites the clubs L E O N G AT H A’ S football and netball clubs will be joined in season 2011.

The club will be known as the Leongatha Football Netball Club Inc. so as to ensure that the netball section of the club is legally protected as part of the incorporated entity. Though the club already functions together as such, it will now be ofﬁcially a joint club, where the Ladies Committee and the Leongatha Junior Football Club will run as legal sub-committees of LFNC, with managers overseeing them. “This will make no difference to how they function. They will do everything as they have in the past, but now they’re covered under the

legal umbrella of the Leongatha Football Netball Club Incorporated,” said Phil Poulton, secretary of the current Football club. “We’d like to send out a huge thank you to Nicole Tyson, who has done all the legal work in incorporating the clubs, and has overseen the whole project.” The club’s annual general meeting will begin as the Leongatha Football Club, and complete it as the Leongatha Football Netball Club. It will be at the Leongatha grandstand function room at 7.30pm on Wednesday, November 10 to adopt these proposed changes. All members are invited to attend. The full details of the changes are available from the football club

secretary Phil Poulton on 0428 642 371 or at pollysplace@dcsi.net.au Applications for

members to join the committee and executive are invited. A new secretary, at

least is required, as Phil is unable to continue in this role next year, due to work commitments.

United they stand: the Leongatha Netball and Football clubs will be coming together under the one name as of 2011 – the Leongatha Football Netball Club Inc.

PAGE 58 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Stony seeks young historians STONY Creek Reserve is celebrating its 100th birthday by inviting its future to uncover its past.

Children from across South Gippsland are being asked to collect memories of the racing and sports precinct to help commemorate the anniversary. And there is plenty of incentive for youngsters to quiz their aunts, uncles, grandparents or older friends about the good times. The best recorded oral history in two age groups will receive $200 of books for their school library from Foster’s Little Bookshop. The winners themselves will each receive a prize of a digital sports camera. Relatives of Daisy Helms may have a head-start in the competition. The 83-year-old is a walking, talking encyclopedia of Stony Creek’s past, having collated (along with husband Frank) a written history for the township’s centenary.

Daisy, who spent most of her life in Meeniyan but now lives in Foster, was happy to share some of this history. “I believe the first ever race in Stony Creek was held from the old Cottees bus sheds with a finish line at the railway station,” she said. “It was quite a big event, with a trapeze artist, other competitions and they even had a ball.” Daisy’s own family were integral to the development of the Stony Creek Reserve, with the first ever committee meeting held in her Great Uncle Bill’s house. Her own commitment involved years of washing dishes and baking scones at the races, while her daughter Helen Boyle is still part of the volunteer army that keeps Stony Creek reserve open for business. Daisy said the reserve is the town of Stony Creek. Foster Primary School students Leith Green and Jonty Westaway are looking forward to delving into the rich history of the reserve.

Leith said he already had his own happy memories of days spent at the races. “I reckon it’s more fun than the Melbourne races, where there is an unsettling feeling. I feel much more relaxed at Stony Creek,” he said. Stony Creek Racing Club chief executive Ralph Gallagher said he was looking forward to reading the collected personal histories from the reserve. “This is a great opportunity to preserve the stories and memories from a century of activity at Stony Creek reserve,” he said. The collection of stories will be published in early 2011 as a booklet recording the history of the area. Entries will be judged in age group categories: ﬁve to eight years and nine to 11 years. Winners will be announced at the Stony Creek Family Day races on Tuesday, December 28. For further information visit www.stonycreekreservehistory. blogspot.com or call 5664 0099.

Past, present, future: Daisy Helms entertains Jonty Westaway and Leith Green with stories from the Stony Creek reserve.

Meeniyan auction Transplant gold Top Magpies to visit ’Thaggi

MEEENIYAN Golf Club held a monster auction recently to raise funds to buy new and reconditioned equipment to maintain their challenging golf course to the high standard necessary to encourage participation in sport. With an encouraging bunch of new junior members, the club is acutely aware of the need to present the course in pristine condition. “Both long standing members, juniors and visiting golfers deserve nothing less,” club president Graham Hoskin said. “Membership fees and trading activities aren’t sufﬁcient to match our new initiatives. We required at least $15,000 to complete the purchase of a surrounds mower.” The auction raised more than that. “The support our golf club received from the business community in southern Gippsland with offers of goods and services for our auction last Saturday was overwhelming.” Businesses offered plumbing, carpentry, hay baling and powerharrowing services as well as beauty care, ﬁshing trips and shares. There were over 75 items offered by Neil Park of SEJ and 65 items offered through a silent auction. More than 200 people supported the auction, which followed a delicious meal. “It turned out to be a fantastic night of fun for everyone. I thank everyone who sponsored the auction, all those who attended, and all the members who helped put it all together,” Mr Hoskin said.

Financial interest: Frank Wellsford (Leongatha) won the bidding for two $1000 vouchers to purchase Australian shares through Patersons stock brokers.

AN Inverloch woman came away with two gold and three bronze medals from the Australian Transplant Games earlier this month.

Jan Coate’s medal haul at the Canberra games was her best ever from four appearances over the past decade. The first time she won a gold medal was two years ago. This year Jan won gold with a team-mate in the petanque and ten pin bowling, and a bronze in lawn bowls singles and darts singles. The opening march through the spectacular flowers at Floriade and a gala dinner in the great hall of parliament house were highlights of the games. “We had the Governor-General at the opening ceremony. She is a very gracious lady,” Jan said. Each of the games Jan has attended have been good in their own way. “One of the big things is catching up with people you know and making sure people are still alive,” Jan said. “Though that sounds terrible it is a very realistic proposition each time, seeing whether people are still with us.” Jan herself qualified to compete at the transplant games by receiving a corneal transplant. The Australian Transplant Games are held every two years and are open to transplant recipients, donor families, living donors,

FORMER South Gippsland footballers Jarryd Blair and Brent Macaffer will be in Wonthaggi on Monday, October 25. For two hours, they’ll conduct handball and kick to kick, sign autographs and hand out Collingwood merchandise. Two signed footballs will be rafﬂed. The boys’ old clubs Wonthaggi Power and KilcundaBass are behind the event. The event will be held at Wonthaggi’s Apex Park between 11am and 1pm and if it’s raining, in the Wonthaggi Power Clubrooms. Mitchell Sanders and Cassi de Lacy-Vawdon, will sing the Collinwood theme song. The council will provide fruit and South Gippsland Water bottled water. Please let Shirley Egan know you’re going at s.egan@basscoast.vic.gov.au

Jan Coates: the Inverloch transplant recipient won two gold and three bronze at a recent transplant games. people on dialysis or awaiting a transplant and supporters. CEO of Transplant Australia Chris Thomas, said the Australian Transplant Games provide recipients with the motivation and inspiration to remain active and network.

Jarryd Blair

“THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - PAGE 59

South Gippy bikers: from left, Craig Best, Toora, Kate Reda, Inverloch, Wayne Verboon, Leongatha, Stephanie Thompson, Venus Bay and Ben Reda, formerly of Inverloch enjoyed their ride to Phillip Island and the racing during the 2010 IVECO Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday.

glamour to d girls added a touch of Stunners: the IVECO gri . nd p Island on the weeke cycle Grand Prix at Philli

an Motor-

the 2010 IVECO Australi

Ready to race: Aussie champion Casey Stoner lined up in pole position for the Phillip Island MotoGP on Sunday and claimed his fourth straight win on the challenging Island track. Aussie hero: Moto GP racer Casey Stoner heads out of the pits to claim his fourth straight title at Phillip Island on Sunday.

stralian SuperCraig McLaren and his son Au Leongatha racer: from left, Phillip Island at ing rac the ngatha enjoyed Leo of en Lar Mc s Kri er rac e bik r an operation a short break from racing afte on the weekend. Kris is taking the last round of next weekend, competing in and will be back on the bike . Kris has his eks we Tasmania in a couple of re underway the Australian Superbikes in we s tion otia in next year and neg Spa in ride a for d sse cro rs ﬁnge on Sunday at the track.

Popular: celebrity Ruby Rose donned her leathers and enjoyed the thrilling racing and meeting the riders at the Phillip Island MotoGP on Sunday.

Helping hand: from left, Foster Rotary Club members Neville Williams, Sue Webster, Alan Macqueen, Lloyd McKenzie and Geoff Eddy joined San Remo and Phillip Island Rotary Club member Ted Jeffrey and local Rotary members helping out at the Phillip Island MotoGP on the weekend.

Stoner claims fourth Island win PHILLLIP Island dished up a mixed bag of spring weather on the weekend, but nothing could stop Aussie champion Casey Stoner from claiming his fourth consecutive win on the Island track.

Local support: from left, Alyce Cuman, Wonthaggi, IVECO grid girl Sarah Connell, Stuart Edden, Wonthaggi, IVECO grid girl Melissa Harris and Tanya Howell, Wonthaggi are pictured in the pits area before the start of the MotoGP race at Phillip Island on Sunday.

Stoner destroyed Sunday’s MotoGP ﬁeld full of World Champions during the 2010 IVECO Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, cheered on by thousands of loyal fans who were treated to some welcome sunshine after some wet and wild weather leading into the main race. Keen motorcycle enthusiasts from all around South Gippsland headed to the track on Sunday and were not disappointed, with some

stunning racing in all classes. The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix is Australia’s ﬂagship international regional event and attracts visitors to Victoria from interstate and around the world. The estimated attendance for day three of the 2010 IVECO Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix is 41,500. This takes the total estimated three-day attendance to 88,000. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation attributes the lower crowds to early inclement weather but thanks the fans for braving the conditions and holding out for a great end to a wet weekend. Starting from his 21st premierclass pole position, Stoner, who turned 25 on the weekend, dealt with the early attentions of new

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha and his own Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden to take a ﬁrst-corner lead he never relinquished over the 27-lap journey. Jorge Lorenzo came in second ahead of a thrilling battle for the ﬁnal podium place. Valentino Rossi, who has been on the Phillip Island podium for the last 12 years in a row, started from eighth on the grid but had worked his way up to third by quarterdistance. Hayden, the lap record-holder here, swept past with two laps to go, forcing Rossi into a desperate last-lap manoeuvre up the inside of the Turn 4 hairpin to regain third spot and keep it by just 0.038 of a second.

PAGE 60 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

By Tony Giles INVERLOCH’s super ﬁt athlete Ken Shaw, 78, must be mad.

400km challenge: Ken Shaw, left, will be supported in his quest by dual Olympic gold medallist, Inverloch’s Drew Ginn.

In training: Ken Shaw gets another training ride in on the weekend.

But his wife, Olga, has known that for a long time. Ken’s latest brainwave is to ride 400kms around Inverloch’s streets in 24 hours. His idea came about as a result of seeing the devastation caused by the worst ﬂoods in Pakistan’s history. Ken is the type of human being that wants to make a difference in life. After discussions with past Rotary Club of Leongatha president and Inverloch resident Michael Malone, the plan was hatched. Funds raised from the ride, which takes place in Inverloch on Tuesday, December 7 from 10am, will be donated to the Rotary Foundation which supports a wide range of charities. The chosen charity will be revealed shortly. Ken’s effort will require him to ride a 10km circuit in Inverloch 40 times. But duel-Olympic Gold Medallist, Drew Ginn, reckons Ken will exceed this in the 24 hours. Local real estate agent, Dennis Ginn, decided to arrange for his son Drew to be involved in Ken’s preparation for the mammoth task. Drew has been spending time with Ken, advising him of dietary requirements as well as an appropriate training regime. “Ken is an inspiration to all of us already. The prospect of him making a difference in the world is a huge thing,” Drew told The Star. “This ride will be a serious challenge. Getting the community behind him is the key.” The community should back Ken 100

per cent. Arrangements are already being made to ensure Ken will have everything he needs so that he can just concentrate on the ride itself and being fit and ready. There will be planned rest stops where Ken will be able to grab some food and drink and take a spell. Masseurs are sure to be at the ready. Others have volunteered their time to ride with Ken so that he has support. Members of the “Coastal Cruisers” bicycle group are also expected to block off times they can ride with Ken, including the difficult “night shift”. Ken also said Heath from Crossover Cycles had been supportive, providing him with cycling clothing and looking after him on the costs of a new road bike. The challenge of a ride of this magnitude is not a first for Ken. He has run in several marathons, and has also competed in the Murray River Marathon where he recorded best time in his Tk1 kyak in the 60 years and over division. Ken is also famous for his “Shack Bay” steps feat. He walked up and down the Shack Bay steps 50 times. That’s 6200 steps up and 6200 steps down. Ken also added belatedly that, “the hard part is I did it all in 90 minutes!” Ken has also competed in a half ironman marathon. The ride will take place mid-week and not in the holiday season. This is because holding it on a weekend or during holidays would create a nightmare for the town. Ken’s training includes riding 500-600 kms a week. Some of his rides include using some of South Gippsland’s many hills. “A big encouragement for me came from Drew Ginn when he said he also gets tired,” Mr Shaw said. The Rotary Club of Leongatha will be out and about obtaining business and personal sponsorship from Inverloch, Leongatha and surrounds. Michael Malone said Rotary would donate 100 per cent of the proceeds to the charity nominated. Ginn ready to row? Talking to the Star on the weekend, Drew Ginn was unsure he would be able to tackle the Olympics in London in 2012; although talking to him it sounded like he still had the drive to give it a tilt. “I had my first row last Thursday night and look at the blisters,” Ginn told The Star. “I really have to see how my back responds to rowing. It would be great to go to London.” Ginn has been channelling his energies into bike racing. He competed in the National Time Trials in January, placing sixth. He was 34th in the 170km road race. He also entered the Melbourne to Warrnambool 260km road race where he finished 35th.